EXPOSED COASTAL GRASSLAND
Windswept pasture leading back from the cliff edges where shallow valleys provide gorse cover for birds, rabbits and badgers. Buzzards are always on the lookout and the fox is often to be seen. Many of the valley meadows are grazed by sheep and have fungi in the autumn. The grasses have kidney vetch, bluebells, scurvy grass, thrift, thyme, white clover and many species of grasses where blue butterflies can be seen. At night barn and tawny owls fly silently over the fields looking for mice, and moles which can emerge anywhere. The stone chat sits on woody stems above the gorse and blackthorn hedges and thickets. The valley bottoms have reed beds either side of the streams where frogs leave their spawn. Swallows arrive from Africa in the spring and fly all over the parish making nests from mud in barns.
Exposed Coastal Grassland food chains:
Badger
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Rat
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Nuts and seeds