There are so many lovely beaches in the South Hams that it’s easy to get into the habit of visiting some and missing out on others. During my beach quest this year (in which I aim to visit or revisit every beach in the area), I realised I hadn’t been to Blackpool Sands for six years. The last time was to see KT Tunstall perform at Tunes on the Sands in 2019 — quite a different kind of beach experience.

Earlier this year, I set out to explore this beautiful beach with its golden sands (or rather, shingle). I began on the south-western side, watching ducklings snatching at midges as they floated downstream, gazing into the deep green lagoon and wondering if this was the pool that gave the beach its name, and dodging waves to reach Jenny Coles Cove, only accessible at low tide. But I didn’t explore the rest of the beach until now.

I returned at the end of September with my friend Amanda. We had both recently come back from holidays and felt the urge to throw ourselves into the sea. Having not swum for a while, we expected to feel the cold more than usual. Much like Slapton Sands, the beach shelves quickly, so a couple of well-timed waves caught us and we were in, with little chance to back out. We only stayed a few minutes — just long enough to get our fix.

Amanda had asked me to take her on one of my adventure walks. For me, that simply means walking and paying attention to what’s around us. After discarding our swim things in the car, we headed through the café complex to the north-eastern side of the beach.

My first impression was how similar it is to Strete Gate, with wooded cliffs meeting the back of the beach where vegetated shingle lies beyond all but the highest tides. We gravitated towards the back where ivy crept cautiously over the stones. As we walked, we began identifying plants, with Amanda keen to learn some new ones. I suggested choosing only a few to remember, as it can get overwhelming. We found some pink Valerian still in flower, along with white Sea Campion and some Deadly Nightshade clambering through the gorse, its red berries and purple-yellow blooms catching the light.

While we mused about the plants, we were joined by a Hornet Mimic Hoverfly and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth — both of which I’ve seen often this year, probably thanks to the warm, dry summer. I’m always delighted to see these wonderful creatures, and we watched as they hovered between the buddleia flowers.

One of the trees that makes its home at the back of the beach is the Holm Oak, and we couldn’t help but feel a burst of childish joy when we discovered a natural den within its low branches.

Returning out into the light of day, we continued looking for plants. Within a small area we found several similar-looking ones with no flowers to help identify them. Amanda, who had done plant surveys while volunteering at Slapton, recognised one as Viper’s Bugloss with its bristly leaves. Nearby we found mature Teasel flowers which helped identify another. Teasels can be prickly, but these had smoother leaves. The very spiny one looked like a thistle, which a quick check on my handy Plant ID app, LeafSnap, confirmed our original ID’s.

As we ventured out in amongst the vegetated shingle, we came across a Hazel sapling, a few late Yellow Horned Poppies, some Coastal Mayweed, and I was delighted when I correctly identified Sea Spurge.

It turned out to be a great learning day, as Amanda asked questions I didn’t know the answers to but have since researched. I now know that Common Hazel has medicinal properties, mainly as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. It is the Valerian root that is used for medical purposes to aid with sleep and Broom is in fact native and related to Gorse - which I had not realised.

After a long time focusing in on plants we decided we needed to zoom out and take in the wider scenery. We wandered to the cliffs at the far end of the beach, where huge slaty rocks had at some point tumbled down the cliff, then we gazed out to sea, across the bay to Start Point Lighthouse.