The River Hayle is a small river in west Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, UK which issues into St Ives Bay

St Ives Bay

St Ives Bay is a bay on the Atlantic coast of north-west Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It is in the form of a shallow crescent, some 4 miles or 6 km across, between St Ives in the west and Godrevy Head in the east....

 at Hayle

Hayle

Hayle is a small town, civil parish and cargo port in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River and is approximately seven miles northeast of Penzance...

 on Cornwall's Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 coast.

The River Hayle is approx 12 miles (19 kilometres) long and it rises south-west of Crowan

Crowan

Crowan is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately three-and-a-half miles south of Camborne. The River Hayle rises near Crowan and flows through the village and the railway branch to Helston passed nearby. Crowan has a population of 2,375...

 village. Its course is west for approx 5 miles (which brings the river to within 3 miles of the south coast at Marazion

Marazion

Marazion is a civil parish and town in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the shore of Mount's Bay, two miles east of Penzance and one mile east of Long Rock.St Michael's Mount is half-a-mile offshore from Marazion...

 on Mount's Bay

Mount's Bay

Mount's Bay is a large, sweeping bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom, stretching from the Lizard Point to Gwennap Head on the eastern side of the Land's End peninsula. Towards the middle of the bay is St Michael's Mount...

). It then flows through a steep wooded valley north of the granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 high ground at Trescowe Common, formerly a mining area, before turning abruptly north near the hamlet of Relubbus. It then follows a northerly course for the remaining six miles to the estuary

Estuary

An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....

 and passes St Erth

St Erth

St Erth is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom.The village is situated four miles southeast of St Ives and six miles northeast of Penzance....

. The small river Beeble is one of its tributaries.

The Hayle Estuary

Hayle Estuary

The Hayle Estuary is an estuary in west Cornwall, United Kingdom.The estuary of the River Hayle consists of a main channel, with several other nearby tidal areas, including Lelant Saltings, Copperhouse Creek and Carnsew Pool ....

 encompasses a disused port on the east bank and a substantial area of salt marsh

Salt marsh

A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...

 named Lelant Saltings

Lelant

Lelant is a village in west Cornwall, England, UK. It is on the west side of the River Hayle estuary about 2½ miles southeast of St Ives and one mile west of Hayle....

 to the west. The port was once of considerable importance to Hayle's industry (see main article Hayle

Hayle

Hayle is a small town, civil parish and cargo port in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River and is approximately seven miles northeast of Penzance...

). Lelant saltings is an important habitat for birds and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...

 runs a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 there. Areas around the estuary are designated as sites of special scientific interest (see also Hayle SSSI

Hayle Estuary and Carrack Gladden SSSI

The Hayle Estuary and Carrack Gladden SSSI is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, noted for its biological interest, in Cornwall, England, UK.It consists of three distinct parts, each of which is covered in a separate article:* the Hayle Estuary...

).

River Hayle location information

• Mouth: Coordinates 50.192°N 5.435°W;
• Relubbus (major change of course): Coordinates 50.134°N 5.401°W; grid ref.
• Source: Coordinates 50.157°N 5.283°W; grid ref.