Fal-Ruan Estuary nature reserve

Habitat type: Tidal mudflat and salt marsh Size of Reserve 41ha (101 acres) OS Map No. 105 Grid reference SW 891 404 (where road crosses river at Tuckingmill Creek) or SW 881 406 Ardevora (hide) Best time to visit Autumn to spring
Cornwall Wildlife Trust encourages the use of environmentally friendly forms of transport wherever possible. Click on the locator map above to go to the National Cycle Network website and view an Ordnance Survey map of this reserve highlighting nearby cycle routes.

Directions:

The reserve is situated on the Roseland Peninsula. The nearest village is Ruan Lanihorne.

Access:

Access is restricted. Please contact the Trust before visiting. The Trelonk part of the reserve may be seen from lanes around Ruan Lanihorne. The Ardevora section is only accessible by boat. The exposed mudflats are potentially dangerous, so visitors are requested to keep to the path.

Classification

Description:

The wide, flat-bottomed Fal estuary is part of a ria system (drowned river valley) and the mudflats contain white china clay waste once washed downriver from the clay extraction sites near St Austell. The land contours create sheltered conditions and oak trees grow down to the tidal waters.

Characteristic wildlife of this reserve:

The greenshank is an agile and energetic bird often first noticed by its piping triple-whistle call. These elegant birds have a gently turned-up bill and a pale plumage with pale-green legs; in flight, they show a pale tail and pointed white rump.

Small numbers of black-tailed godwit visit from July to January. These are large waders, with long legs and bill and the eponymous black tail, with a white rump and bold white bar on the wing. When they first arrive in the summer, they may still be seen in their chestnut breeding plumage.

Invertebrate animals, notably molluscs, crustaceans and worms live in the mud and create the rich estuarine ecosystem. A feature of most molluscs is their calcareous shell which, because of well-preserved fossils, can be traced back over 500 million years.

Other information:

Drawing on the china clay close by, the Trelonk brickworks were situated on Tuckingmill Creek in the late 19th century, and the kiln chimney survives today as a local landmark.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust Nature Reserves

List of reserves ... Armstrong Woods Bakers Pit Beales Meadow Bissoe Valley Bosvenning Common Cabilla and Redrice Woods Caer Brân Carn Moor Chûn Downs Churchtown Farm Chyverton Devichoys Wood Downhill Meadow Fal-Ruan Estuary Five Acres Fox Corner Greena Moor Halbullock Hawkes Wood Helman Tor Kemyel Crease Kennall Vale Lanvean Bottoms Loggan's Moor Loveny Lower Lewdon Luckett Maer Lake Nansmellyn Marsh North Predannack Downs Park Hoskyn Pendarves Wood Penlee Battery Phillips's Point Priddacombe Downs Prideaux Wood Quoit Heathland Redlake Cottage Meadows Ropehaven Cliffs Rosenannon Downs St Erth Pits St George's Island Swanvale Sylvia's Meadow Tamar Estuary Tincombe Trebarwith Tresayes Tywardreath Marsh Upton Meadow Upton Towans Ventongimps Moor Welcombe & Marsland Windmill Farm

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