Whitesand Bay & Sennen Cove

The west facing bay is backed by a 38 hectares dune system which has developed from a limited supply of sand trapped within the shelter of the headlands, Pedn-mên-du (in the south) and Aire Point. The dunes contain the only British population of the shield bug Geotomus punctulatus which was first recorded here in 1864. G. punctulatus is a southern European species and associated with sparsely vegetated areas of loose sand and feeds on lady's bedstraw.

At Sennen Village, a small fishing fleet of seven is protected by a breakwater built in 1908. Mullet used to be an important catch in the bay with the fishery beginning at the end of January and continued towards the end of April. Sennen Cove was the most important seine fishery in Cornwall and, in Edwardian times, large schools were still entering the bay with as many as 12,000 caught at one time.