European stonechat
Porthgwarra to Pordenack Point Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is designated for its vegetation of waved maritime heath, and for being of considerable ornithological interest; especially for passage migrants. The southern section, Tol Pedn or Gwennap Head, in particular is favoured by birdwatchers and many travel the length and breadth of Britain to track rare seabirds. The headland is renowned for its relative abundance of passing marine bird species with many common species such as northern gannet ("Morus bassanus"), Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus"), common guillemot, ("Uria aalge"), razorbill ("Alca torda"), northern fulmar ("Fulmarus glacialis"), shag ("Phalacrocorax aristotelis") and cormorant ("Phalacrocorax carbo"). Forty-five breeding species have been recorded including the red-billed choughs ("Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax") which have recently been breeding successfully on Gwennap Head, but lost their young to a predator in early May 2015. Other species include Eurasian teal ("Anas crecca"), which is a rare as a breeding bird in Cornwall and European stonechat ("Saxicola rubicola") and common whitethroat ("Sylvia communis").