Around 230 swimmers including Television star Steve McFadden led raced across the River Fal on Sunday (6th June) to raising over £10,000 in support of the RNLI’s South West Lifeguard Appeal. Entrants were sent on their way by former Olympic swimmer, Sharron Davies and Laurence Reed from BBC Radio Cornwall.

Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell in the BBC’s EastEnders) said after finishing the swim:

‘It was tough, definitely harder than last year. I pushed it a bit too early and it was very choppy for the whole swim. The sense of achievement when you finish is amazing and I feel great. The RNLI is the most fantastic charity in the world, there’s nothing else like it. I thank all the lifeboat crew and lifeguards for what they do.’

The Castle-to-Castle swim began at Pendennis Point, Falmouth and ended on the St Mawes side of the river. The first man home on the one mile swim was John Parker (Cleveland, Bristol) in a time of 27 minutes and the first female back was 15 year old Nicky Russell (Truro, Cornwall).

Safety cover for the event was provided by the RNLI lifeguard team and the volunteer crews of the Falmouth all weather and inshore lifeboats.

Source: RNLI website – news releases

An Alder Flycatcher bird, never before seen in Britain, has arrived near Land’s End, Cornwall.

The bird, thought to be either an Alder Flycatcher or Willow flycatcher, attracted birdspotters from all over the UK to Nanjizal, Cornwall on Thursday. The small bird with a wingspan of only 8-9 inches is normally to be found in the wetlands of northern South America, where it usually winters.

Expert ringers have received a licence to catch the bird briefly in a net for further study before it is released back into the wild.

Sources: BBC News Cornwall, Times  Online

The Independent website has published an interesting list of little known coasts, woodlands and gardens in their This Britain section. Of particular interest to English Coast of course is the coastal list:

1. Rathlin Island (Northern Ireland)
2. Isle of Eigg (Scotland)
3. Silecroft, Cumbria
4. Arnside, Cumbria
5. Llandudno Pier (Wales)
6. Skomer Island (Wales)
8. Clevedon Pier, Somerset
9. Watchet, Somerset
10. Wembury, Devon
11. Pednevounder Beach, Cornwall
12. Brownsea Island, Dorset
13. St Nectan’s Glen, Cornwall
14. Pagham Harbour, West Sussex
15. Minnis Bay, Kent
16. Horsey Beach, Norfolk
17. Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire
18. Spurn Head, Yorkshire
19. Low Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland
20. Isle of May (Scotland)

We recomend visiting the Secret Britain page for full details of each location, although some of the above are already included on the main English Coast site so we will link in to those pages soon.