Wednesday 7th April: St. Just to Pendeen

Another one of our regular walks is to take the bus to St Just and then to walk back along the coast to Pendeen. As the weather was reasonable today we decided to do this. We were able to start earlier than usual and after making a packed lunch we drove up and parked in Pendeen in time to catch the bus into St. Just.

As usual we spent some time in St Just first of all, visiting the St Just Arts and Crafts Fair and also the Kurt Jackson gallery. Both my VLW and I really like the work of the latter and if it hadn't been for the very hefty price tag we both said that we'd have contemplated buying one. After having done the art and having bought our usual journey ice creams from the Co-op we headed down past Boscean and down to Kenidjack to say hello to the donkeys as usual. Along the stream we managed to see a number of Golden Ringed Dragonflies as well as the numerous Banded Demoiselles.

Kenidjack Golden-ringed Dragonfly

In a break from tradition and as it was rather hot we had our packed lunch down in the valley in the shade of a large Sallow. Then it was up the track to the coastal path and back towards Botallack and Geevor. There was remarkably little to see on the bird front on the journey with just the odd Stonechat, Raven and Kestrel to be seen.

The cryptic Grayling showing how well camouflaged it is

At Geevor whilst the others headed towards the café I lingered amongst the ruins to see what I could find. One is almost always guaranteed a Wheatear here and sure enough I soon found a juvenile bird in amongst the Linnets.

Geevor juvenile Wheatear

After our tea we headed back into Pendeen to pick up the car and head back to the cottage for the evening.