Birdwatching - St Just Valleys | Cornwall Guide

Birdwatching - St Just Valleys

Nanquidno, Cot and Kenidjack valleys, all within walking distance of the town of St Just in Penwith and situated along the South West Coast Path, are famous among the birdwatching community for regularly turning up rarities, especially during autumn passage times.

Nanquidno, mid-way between Sennen Cove and Cape Cornwall and about an hour's walk from each, is a beautifully secluded and unspoilt location, with a wooded upper valley giving way to a rocky cove among rugged cliffs.
Cot Valley, about a half hour walk north from Nanquido, towards Cape Cornwall, is a lush, sub-tropical valley bisected by a narrow road and a stream, that ends with the delightful Porth Nanven Cove, an excellent example of a raised beach.
Kenidjack, the other side of Cape Cornwall and reachable at low tide by scrambling across the boulders from the Cape (or by the coast path when the tide is high), is another wooded upper valley that gives way to a rugged cove, distinctive for a series of impressive former mine workings.

All the valleys have turned up rarities in the past, including Yellow-Browed Warbler, Red-Breasted Flycatcher, Wryneck and Snow Bunting, as well as the occasional American and Siberian vagrants such as Dusky Warbler, Red-Eyed Vireo, Yellow-Throated Vireo, Black Poll Warbler and American Redstart. Residents and common visitors include Spotted Flycatcher, Willow Warbler, Green Woodepecker, Whitethroat. Stonechat, Whinchat, Sedge Warbler and Firecrest, while seawatching is likely to turn up Manx and Sooty Shearwater, Arctic and Great Skua and many different species of Gull.

The best access to the valleys is via the South West Coast Path, either starting at Sennen or Cape Cornwall. If you wish to view them by car the easiest option is Cot Valley, where there is (limited) parking right by the sea. There is space for about six cars to park at Nanquidno, with a walk of around ten minutes to the sea. For Kenidjack, it is best to park in St Just and walk down as parking is severely limited.