Trapdoor Into another Realm 20/01/2010
Dive through the trapdoor in the Berry Head Visitor Centre Cafe and you’ll pop out just below the top of towering limestone cliffs ready to be flushed from the Napoleonic sewer to share airspace with Guillemots.
A thousand Guillemots or 16 Guillemots might watch you emerge depending on time of day, season, weather, fishing and their interest levels.
But... in another world the sewer becomes a backlit glass covered “feature” for visitors to peer into from the safety of their tea and cake.
A cafe is designed to attract people but it is the spectacular geology of the site that attracts the Guillemot and in partcular they seek the prestigious rock ledges found here. A product of dramatic faulting, folding, layering and erosion they form an ideal spot to lay a single pear shaped egg. Here the eggs will rotate on their axis but not roll off.
Emma Reece who co-led the “ One Year on” site tour and stroll on Sunday explained how the Soay sheep will soon take over from volunteers to maintain the rare limestone cliff grassland habitats that are home to an astonishing array of plants, insects and BATS. Greater horseshoe bats roost in a cave nearby and when the visitor centre opens in March a bat camera and a Guillemot camera will broadcast images to the visitor centre for visitors to enjoy.
One of the aspects of the site that intrigues me most I think is the way that the power of “things” is recognised and utilized to shape the flow of visitors around the site while maximising conservation of this nationally important site.
A strategically placed canon draws people towards the new Visitor Centre without the need for signage. Paths are good at getting people to follow them so they have been brought in to reduce the impact of so many visitors feet, without having to restrict access over sensitive grassland habitats. Benches in the bird-hide encourage sitting and the windows that face the Guillemot breeding ground encourage looking. The View has even become a collaborator in the evolving Geopark story. A natural magnet for the human gaze the Northern Cliff edge provides an ideal location for the siting of a panoramic Geopark viewboard which will signal out the evidence of different Geologic times across Torbay.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year you can join other volunteers and “things” at Berry Head to carry out valuable work and make sure it is a place with a great future.
For more information visit http://web.me.com/a.keleher/Site/Geopark_blog