Deepest, Darkest Cornwall

Waving goodbye to Ghostie, I departed Hampshire and hit the road westwards, making a minor detour into Totton to yeartick Cherry Plum, before pushing all the way through to Penzance. I was in Cornwall at the behest of my old buddy Danny The Pirate. He was getting married in two days' time and I was Best Man (or First Mate, maybe). Somewhat disconcertingly, I was Best Man at his first wedding too... But I hadn't seen Danny Boy in far too long a time and there was nothing going to stop me from being at his wedding. Though clearly I'd made a little time for plant-hunting beforehand.

My plan was to hit Penzance first, meet up with Danny that evening and then spend the following day down on The Lizard scooping some seriously decent plants. After that it was the wedding day. Danny, however, had other plans and we headed off to the wedding venue a whole day early, meaning I'd missed my chance to visit The Lizard. Oh well, at least I managed a few goodies in Penzance...

There's a fantastic old wall in Penzance, well worth ten minutes of your time if ever you're down that way. I didn't think to take a photo of the wall itself, so here's a screenshot from Google Maps

Streetview of Abbey Slip (Sept 2021) 

The Asda van is alongside the very best bit of wall, just walk slowly up the steps and scan everything on your right. Here's a selection of the more interesting plants I found along a fifty foot stretch of the wall

Pink-headed Persicaria Persicaria capitata is commonplace here

One of several clumps of Adria Bellflower Campanula portenschlagiana

Navelwort (aka Wall Pennywort) Umbilicus rupestris is common here too

I found several small clumps of Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis merrily self-seeding in the wall

Lots of the curiously named Mind-your-own-business Soleirolia soleirolii low down too

This was only the second time I'd encountered Pink-headed Persicaria (the first being last week when I twitched it in a Hampshire churchyard) and Rosemary was a very unexpected lifer for me. Adria Bellflower and Navelwort were both yearticks, a very useful little stop! I had gen for a couple of desirable plants in a nearby churchyard, ten minutes later I was pulling up outside Gulval Church and was soon wandering between headstones looking for more lifers. The first fell very quickly

Canary Herb-Robert Geranium reuteri self-seeding all around the back of the church

The Canary Herb-Robert comprises a mature plant next to the church wall and dozens of small seedlings merrily sprouting up in cracks and quiet corners all around. This is one of just a handful of British sites where it has naturalised. At some point in the future I shall return to this plant, just to see it flowering. Ten metres away I found my second target plant, growing abundantly in the short grass behind me.

This is Krauss' Clubmoss Selaginella kraussiana. I've been wanting to see this for years!!

I was pretty stoked to finally find myself eyeballing this small plant, and relieved to have found it so easily; my gen just said "in Gulval Churchyard". Penzance seems to be a bit of a hotspot for Krauss' Clubmoss, I suspect it's probably in most of the churchyards around here. Seeing as I've botanised my way around Penzance in the past, and twice spent a night kipping in a Penzance churchyard, I'm a little surprised that it's taken me quite so long to find this plant. But it was well worth the wait, it's definitely a fave of mine now - even though it does bear more than a passing resemblance to a bryophyte!

I wandered the rest of Gulval Churchyard in search of anything else of interest, finding a huge fern that has me perplexed. I thought I'd nail the ID in no time, but so far I've drawn a complete blank. Thoughts, anybody?

Frond upperside

Frond underside - hugely distinctive!

Is there such a thing as Creeping Jungle Fern???

I quit Penzance and began working my way across to see Danny in St Blazey, the other side of Truro. But first I called in to check on the African Feather-grass at Marazion. 

African Feather Grass Pennisetum macrourum

African Feather Grass was discovered new to Britain at this very spot in 2008. Nationally it is still only known from three sites, two of which are here in Cornwall. It hardly looks its best at this time of year, but it's actually a very smart-looking grass earlier in the season. Kev Rylands put me onto this back in October 2017, himself having received gen from Dave Gibbs. I genuinely love how plant info is passed on from botanist to botanist via word of mouth and hand-drawn maps, it's so personal and intimate. Of course, much information can be gleaned via internet searches and by trawling county florae, but the word of mouth approach is still very much in evidence and, to me, harks back to simpler, more pleasant times.  

Continuing eastwards, I then took an abortive wander around Kenwyn Churchyard near Truro. An hour and a half later I quit, having failed to find House Holly-fern or Ribbon Fern, both of which are evergreen so should have been visible. It's a very big churchyard with various avenues and levels to explore, but I admit to being disappointed at having failed to locate at least one of these ferns. I did find a small tent squirreled away in an overgrown corner, complete with cooking equipment. The whole thing was scarcely visible, the owner clearly having taken considerable care to keep it hidden from prying eyes. Fair enough, I enjoy a bit of stealth camping too. But why pitch up in a churchyard? If you want to get away from it all, head to the hills. Heck, Cornwall is chock full of wild spots.

I spent that night in St Blazey, catching up with Danny, meeting his bride to be for the first time, generally having a laugh. The following day we managed to squeeze in time for me to twitch Western Sword-fern in an alleyway in nearby Tywardreath, the sole known Cornish site for this alien fern. Hats off to Danny, I walked straight past it and might never have seen it at all if he hadn't called me back with "I've got a weird fern here, is this it?" Annoyingly I didn't have my camera with me, so no pics for you. Take my word for it, it was sweeeet! Then it was off to Rame Head.

Danny had hired out Polhawn Fort for the wedding venue, a genuine Napoleonic Fort!!! It was pretty damned swanky, even if my room was a cell. Fun and antics were definitely had, pirate-themed weddings do tend to go with a bit of a swing! I think my overall highlight was meeting Warren, a four year old terror ("You're going dooooown!"), the youngest of four brothers who bonded to me within moments of our meeting, much to the surprise of me and of his mom and dad. As a family, they usually holiday in northern Scotland, so I'm vaguely hopeful they may keep their promise and make it up to Skye at some point. 

The following day I was off again, this time heading eastwards to meet Dorset Pete at Portland Bird Obs, a place I hold very dear. Farewell for now, Danny Boy. I'll catch you again later this year!