Settling in

Having moved to Cornwall it's time to get out and explore, which we have now started doing.  Our most recent trip took us to the walk from Mylor Bridge, a small village towards the South Coast of Cornwall, on an (apparently) atypically beautiful day:

The walk was initially very pleasant taking the path alongside the river and with farmland on the other side.

The path led on to some rougher areas with gorse and wildlife, including the Linnet:

And at this time of year abundant insects and butterflies, here a Peacock shows its colour:

The circular walk soon became a narrow path between walls and then a trudge through farm lanes and on a road, so not one we'll be doing again, but good to be out and exploring.

Prior to this excursion we also visited Windmill Farm which is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.  This trip was more of a recce ahead of better birding days ahead in Autumn and Spring.

The site was alive with insects, some pretty like this one:

Others biting like horse flies, so insect repellent required for future visits!

The trees very loosely reminded me of those in the Hoh Rainforest (see a few posts below) in Washington State:

And of course more butterflies:

Another trip out, this time with a friend on a flying visit to Cornwall, was Men-an-Tol, I think this was the best day in terms of the weather:

Gorgeous light, an interesting place of abandoned buildings:

Together with some ancient monuments, this the remaining nine standing stones of an original twenty one, the so called Nine Maidens (joined here by two more, Helen and Celia):

There's the ubiquitous abandoned mine shaft and building too:

And Men-an-Tol itself, a 'circle of rebirth':

Our very first walk in Cornwall having relocated here was around and indeed up to Carn Brea as part of the The Great Flat Lode Trail close to Redruth, which in turn is close to our new home.

On the way up the Carn a tall mine shaft:

And more abandoned mine buildings:

These are eclipsed though by the Basset monument to himself, erected by the industrialist who owned and managed all of the mines in the area:

The trail itself goes past a large number of disused mining buildings, most of them now have very secure covers on the mineshafts, which is I gather a notable improvement :)

And everywhere you go in Cornwall you can hear the calls of the Herring Gull, although the species is red listed and in a fast population decline, in Cornwall they do feel like they are everywhere, especially on bin days (Cornwall has the archaic practice of unlimited bin bags out every Friday, so it's feast day, and also why the county has huge numbers of rats too):

We've a huge amount of Cornwall yet to explore and are both very much looking forward to it!