Spring Saunters in North Cornwall

The North Cornish coast is an especially vibrant place in springtime. The furious winter winds that have driven the waves savagely against the rocks all winter turn playful, snatching the foam off the top of the breakers and tossing the seabirds over the beaches. Nesting gulls and fulmars line the cliffs and offshore islands, rising with indignant cries if disturbed, and corn buntings and warblers can be heard around the fields above the cliffs.

Beneath feathery fronds of tamarisk, compressed cushions of dark-leaved thrift spill over the lichen-clad 'curzeyway' slate walls, their pink-petalled globes nodding among the rubbery leaves of navelwort and assorted stonecrops. Vivid yellow flowers dot the grass fringing the walls –  celandines, buttercups, dandelions – their colour echoed in the gorse flowers on the areas of heathland, where fresh new bracken unfurls among the primroses and violets.