Nanjizal cove from Carn Boel August 2008

Nanjizal ( kw, Porth Nansusel, meaning "cove of the howling valley"), also known as Mill Bay, is a beach and cove in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of St Levan,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Situated one mile to the south-east of Land's End, Nanjizal has no direct access via road, and is usually reached via the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...

from Land's End in the north, or from

Porthgwarra Porthgwarra ( kw, Porth Gorwedhow, meaning ''very wooded cove'') is a small coastal village in the civil parish of St Levan, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom situated between Land's End and Porthcurno. Access to the cove is via a minor ro ...

to the south. Nanjizal is also a noted bird watching location.

Geography

Nanjizal is a cove and valley facing west into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. It is bounded on the north side by the headland of Carn Boel and Trevilley Cliff and to the south is the headland of Carn Lês Boel and Higher Bosistow Cliff. Depending on tides and storms the beach can vary from sand to boulders. On the south is Zawn Pyg (pointed chasm) also known as 'Song of the Sea', an arch where the sea has worn through a tall narrow passageway. The large pools near the zawn are called Big and Little Muzzan (''Morzawn'', zawn of the sea) and the current that leads from the zawn to the Longships is called Froze Muzzan (current of the sea zawn). Inside the cove are large rock-pools with many types of sea anemones and seaweeds. To the north is a distinctive rock close to the cliff known as the 'Diamond Horse'. There are also a number of other caves further round the beach. Southern edge of Nanjizal beach with Zawn Pyg rock arch in the background August 2013

Southern edge of Nanjizal beach with Zawn Pyg rock arch in the background August 2013

History

The ''City of Cardiff'' was a collier in water ballast heading for her home port of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. She left

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

on 6 March 1912 and rounded the Lizard at midnight on 20 March in a freshening southerly gale. By dawn she was trying to round Land's End but was beaten back as far as

Porthcurno Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an ec ...

. She passed close to Tol-pedn at 0900 and there were fears for her safety as the gale increased and veered WSW. By 1100, unable to make headway she anchored a mile south of Land's End and less than half a mile from Carn Lés Boel, the southern flank of Nanjizal. Her engines were kept on full ahead but she was slowly drifting towards the shore and with a sudden squall she struck rocks out. She was brought ashore on a flooding tide. The crew, two wives and a two-year-old were carried to land on the rocket apparatus by the Sennen Life-saving Apparatus Team who had followed the ship along the shore. The skeleton can be seen at low tide.

Wildlife and ecology

Nanjizel is within the

Porthgwarra to Pordenack Point Porthgwarra to Pordenack Point is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in west Cornwall, England, noted for its biological characteristics. The South West Coast Path runs through the SSSI. Geography The site, notified in 1977, i ...

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI), designated in 1977 for its

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

cliffs and maritime heath. The valley is a constant effort site (CES) for the West Cornwall Ringing Group which monitors the birds in the valley. Breeding birds include

common chiffchaff The common chiffchaff (''Phylloscopus collybita''), or simply the chiffchaff, is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds in open woodlands throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic. It is a migratory passerine which ...

(''Phylloscopus collybita''), common whitethroat (''Sylvia communis''), dunnock (''Prunella modularis''), Eurasian blackcap (''Sylvia atricapilla''), Eurasian wren (''Troglodytes troglodytes'') and sedge warbler (''Acrocephalus schoenobaenus''). Other birds found include

brambling The brambling (''Fringilla montifringilla'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It has also been called the cock o' the north and the mountain finch. It is widespread and migratory, often seen in very large flocks. Ta ...

(''Fringilla montifringilla''),

cirl bunting The cirl bunting ( ), (''Emberiza cirlus''), is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. It breeds across southern Europe, on the Mediterranean islands an ...

(''Emberiza cirlus''),

common grasshopper warbler The common grasshopper warbler (''Locustella naevia'') is a species of Old World warbler in the grass warbler genus ''Locustella''. It breeds across much of temperate Europe and the western Palearctic. It is migratory, wintering in north and we ...

(''Locustella naevia''), Eurasian siskin (''Spinus spinus''), lesser redpoll (''Acanthis cabaret'') and subalpine warbler (''Sylvia cantillans''). Rareties ringed in the autumn of 2014 were

aquatic warbler The aquatic warbler (''Acrocephalus paludicola'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. It breeds in temperate eastern Europe and western Asia, with an estimated population of 11,000-15,000 pairs. It is migratory, wintering in ...

(''Acrocephalus paludicola''),

barred warbler The barred warbler (''Curruca nisoria'') is a typical warbler which breeds across temperate regions of central and eastern Europe and western and central Asia. This passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical eastern Africa.Del ...

(''Sylvia nisoria'') and paddyfield warbler (''Acrocephalus agricola''). A first for Britain occurred on 8 October 2008 with the trapping, and the measuring of biometric data, of an

alder flycatcher The alder flycatcher (''Empidonax alnorum'') is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. The genus name ''Empidonax'' is from Ancient Greek ''empis'', "gnat", and ''anax'', "master". The specific ''alnorum'' is Latin and means ...

(''Empidonax alnorum''). A first for Cornwall occurred on 2 September 2015, when a Blyth's reed warbler (''Acrocephalus dumetorum'') was ringed. There have been six

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

records and one from Devon so it was considered long overdue for Cornwall.

In popular culture

The four-part ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' serial "

The Smugglers ''The Smugglers'' is the completely missing first serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 10 September to 1 October 1966. In this serial ...

" was filmed here on 19 June 1966; in which "The TARDIS" materialises on a beach.

Gallery

File:Nanjizal beach from the south August 2013.jpg, View north across Nanjizal cove from Higher Bosistow Cliff File:Nanjizal beach with Carn Boel headland on the right at sunset August 2013.JPG, Nanjizal beach at sunset, looking out to sea File:Cornwall 197.JPG, Nanjizal beach at sunset, looking south File:Zawn Pyg chasm and rock arch at Nanjizal beach August 2013.JPG, View through the Zawn Pyg rock arch File:Mill Bay, or Nanjizal - geograph.org.uk - 30988.jpg, Mill Bay, or Nanjizal, June 2005

Notes

References

External links

West Cornwall Ringing Group
{{Cornwall, state=collapsed Beaches of Penwith Valleys of Cornwall