Carrack Gladden

Carrack Gladden is a coastal headland between Hayle and St Ives, Cornwall. The cliffs between the headland and Hawks Point to the east here are 60 metres high and are of metamorphosed Devonian slates.

The acidic soils exhibit a range of vegetation types including maritime heath, grassland and scrub communities.

The heath and grassland habitats at the headland itself support the nationally scarce Soft-leaved Sedge "Carex montana". and on the steep wet cliffs to the east, two other nationally scarce plant species Ivy Broomrape "Orobanche hederae" and Maidenhair Fern "Adiantum capillus-veneris", are found.

The site has been included by English Nature within a Site of Special Scientific Interest called the Hayle Estuary and Carrack Gladden SSSI in recognition of its biodiversity conservation importance.