We
took a taxi to the car park at Llanmadoc and walked down to the coast, as
previously, but this time bore south over the limestone headland. There was a small but prominent patch of
Meadow Saxifrage close to the path among the Cowslips and Bluebells, Crosswort,
Hairy Rock-cress and Bloody Cranesbill, plus a small patch of
Star-of-Bethlehem. The Dung-beetle Typhaeus typhoeus was active. From the top of the headland there was a
good view of the topography of Whiteford Dunes to the north, where we had been
the day before. The cliff-top was
covered in Bluebells past three headlands, with wet areas having Marsh
Horsetail, before we descended into Broughton Bay
and rather spoiled dunes by the caravan park, dominated by Burnet Rose. A rather battered Wall butterfly was
braving the conditions. A grassy area
near the caravans had Musk Storksbill.
The cliffs after this were less interesting than before and we got
quite wet with a strong cold wind blowing fine rain into us. Nevertheless, under our umbrellas, with our
eyes mostly focussed on the path at our feet, we noticed the shiny blue
swollen larvae of the Bloody-nosed Beetle.
We descended to the north end of Rhossili Beach
(over rocks with Thrift, Rock Samphire, Sea Milkwort and the leaves of Golden
Samphire). There were fewer shells
than the day before, but lots of Mactra
corallina and other common bivalves, and wrecks of Spider Crabs. We walked along the strandline of the beach
for almost a mile, but, with lunchtime approaching and a desire to get a
drier place, we walked up a stream to Hillend Campsite, just outside
Llangennith, where there was a café for snacks and a decent coffee. Instead of returning to the beach we
followed the coast path at the lower edge of a steep hill slope above the
beach. This was mostly grassy, but had
some marshy spots where streams came down with Creeping Forget-me-not. The slope was sheep-grazed and covered with
Bracken, with few flowers of interest, but lots of Stonechats advertised
their presence. We eventually arrived
in Rhossili and set off to walk around Worms Head. Rhossili church is C13th, replacing an
earlier one at beach level that was engulfed by sand. The track out to the headland was paved and
much used by coach-borne tourists coming for the view at the end out to the
islands just off the headland. The
islands are accessible only at low tide.
What the tourists generally did not reach were the limestone cliffs at
the far headland where we found a wonderful rock garden – mats of Spring
Squill, the rare Hoary Rockrose, Common Rockrose (useful to show the size
difference in the flowers), Squinancywort, Field Madder, Confused Eyebright,
and Basil Thyme. We continued along
the south coast of the headland, which was much wilder and free from people,
with Choughs, Fulmars and Jackdaws, all nesting on the cliffs, continually
flying by. Occasional rock outcrops
had more Hoary Rockrose, although lack of sun meant that the abundant flowers
did not open. A path-side Hawthorn had
the typical lop-sided umbrella shape of windswept areas. At the wide deep valley of Mew Slade
we found Sea Storksbill, while the path turned inland. At the head of this valley we left the
coast path to take one back up to Rhossili, past Slender Thistles just coming
into flower. Along the lush enclosed
lane to the village, where plants such as Pink Purslane, Navelwort and Lesser
Celandine grew particularly large, we noticed three more Bloody-nosed Beetle
larvae. Having reached the road, at a
bus-stop we worked out that the best we could do to travel back was a bus to
Reynoldston, leaving us just over 2km to walk to our hotel. We reached Reynoldston Green about
4.30pm. Despite the cold wind we found
a seat to eat the cakes and bananas we had brought for lunch before setting
out again along the quiet unfenced roads to Fairyhill.
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Star-of-Bethlehem
Cowslip
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