The River Fal (Standard Written Form: Dowr Fala)[citation needed] flows through Cornwall, rising at Pentevale on Goss Moor (between St. Columb and Roche) and reaching the English Channel at Falmouth.

The Fal estuary from Tregony to the Truro River was originally called Hafaraell (Cornish: Havarel, meaning fallow place).

The river mouth and Falmouth harbour served as an anchorage in the immediate years after the Second World War for scores of laid-up Royal Navy vessels (including battleships, carriers, and cruisers) awaiting sale for scrap.

[citation needed] The River Fal suffered a severe, high-profile pollution accident in February 1992, when a nearby tin mine was flooded.

The Crowhill Valley SSSI between Grampound and St Stephen is an ancient woodland dominated by sessile oak on the slopes, and of willow and alder carr on the floodplain which has a rich ground flora.

[10] The Upper Fal Estuary and Woods SSSI is mostly within the tidal area of the river between Tregony and Turnaware Point and includes mudflats, salt marsh and ancient woodland.

The mudflats support nationally important numbers of black-tailed godwit as well as large populations of wintering waders and wildfowl such as curlew and golden plover.

A series of transition zones occur from the salt marsh to scrub, where young trees attempt to grow despite the threat of the highest tides, to ancient woodland on the higher slopes.

[12][13][14] Three institutional landowners that own land within Upper Fal Estuary and Woods SSSI include the Duchy of Cornwall, the National Trust (for example, the Trelissick estate) and the Diocese of Truro (via its Diocesan Board of Finance).