Habitat type: Cliffs and woodland
Size of reserve: 20 hectares / 49 acres
OS map number: 107
Grid reference: SX 033 489 (entrance to centre of reserve at Trenarren)
Best time to visit: All year
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Directions
From the A390, heading east through St Austell, pass Asda on your right and head up the hill. Near the brow, turn right towards the hospital. Just after the hospital, at a junction where the road bears left, carry straight on for 1.5 miles (2.5 km), then turn left towards Trenarren. Access is via a track forking off to the left just before reaching Trenarren.
Access
Easy parking. The South West Coast Path crosses the upper side of the reserve and a path, which is uneven and can be muddy, drops down to Ropehaven Steps. The majority of the cliffs are inaccessible.
Characteristic wildlife of this reserve
The fulmar is actually a large petrel, but it is similar in size and colour to herring gulls, with grey backs, wings and tail and white head and underparts. They visit land only to nest in colonies where any intruders are likely to be hit by a foul-smelling spit. Fulmars use little nesting material, laying their eggs on rocky cliff ledges.
House martins feed high above the cliffs; their aerial manoeuvres are breathtaking as they chase insects, then fly straight at the cliff to disappear into their nests at astonishing speed. House martins are distinguished from swallows by their white rump, white throat and shorter, forked tail.
Fossils contained in the rocks tell us that 400 million years ago Ropehaven lay beneath deepening tropical seas. The sea bed was home to corals, sea lilies, shellfish and primitive fish and squid.
Other information
Several interesting geological features are in the reserve, including old slate workings, and thin bands of limestone, an uncommon rock in Cornwall.
This reserve was purchased in 1986 with the help of a grant from the World Wildlife Fund.
