Norfolk · Directions ↗
Today at Happisburgh
FairBig tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.7 m low tide falls towards evening.
Safe window: 3:22pm – 4:47pm
Leave the beach by 4:47pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.7 m low tide falls towards evening.
11° · overcast · Low tide: 5:03am (0.6 m), 5:22pm (0.7 m) · Wind up to 22 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 6:32am – 6:39am
Leave the beach by 6:39am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.6 m low tide falls first thing. Daylight cuts the collecting window to under 45 minutes, so don't plan a long session.
11° · drizzle · Low tide: 5:39am (0.6 m), 5:57pm (0.8 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 0.9 m
No safe daylight window
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Rough seas with big waves forecast — stay off the beach today.
9° · overcast · Low tide: 6:16am (0.7 m), 6:32pm (0.9 m) · Wind up to 34 km/h · Waves 2.7 m
No safe daylight window
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Rough seas with big waves forecast — stay off the beach today.
8° · mostly clear · Low tide: 6:54am (0.7 m), 7:08pm (1.0 m) · Wind up to 29 km/h · Waves 2.6 m
Safe window: 6:37am – 8:36am
Leave the beach by 8:36am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Recent heavy seas should have washed fresh material onto the beach. A big 0.7 m low tide falls first thing.
6° · mostly clear · Low tide: 7:36am (0.7 m), 7:47pm (1.1 m) · Wind up to 14 km/h · Waves 1.3 m
Safe window: 6:39am – 9:24am
Leave the beach by 9:24am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Recent heavy seas should have washed fresh material onto the beach. A big 0.8 m low tide falls first thing.
9° · overcast · Low tide: 8:24am (0.8 m), 8:34pm (1.2 m) · Wind up to 21 km/h · Waves 0.5 m
Safe window: 7:20am – 10:20am
Leave the beach by 10:20am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Recent heavy seas should have washed fresh material onto the beach. A big 0.8 m low tide falls mid-morning.
11° · mostly clear · 2mm rain · Low tide: 9:20am (0.8 m), 9:31pm (1.3 m) · Wind up to 17 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Search the sand and gravel at low water for dark, heavy bone and rolled teeth washing from the ancient river beds. Beach levels change dramatically here — a scouring tide can expose (or bury) everything overnight, so no two visits are alike.
Ice Age bone from the 'forest bed' is dark brown to black, heavy, with a honeycomb texture at broken ends. Sea-urchin fossils show as five-pointed stars on rounded flint pebbles. Free identification: Cromer Museum (photo enquiries via Norfolk Museums Service).
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils from the beach may be kept for personal collections.
Never allowed: No digging into the cliffs or the exposed beds — Happisburgh has produced Britain's oldest human footprints and tools, and unrecorded digging destroys world-class archaeology.
Important finds: Report any possible bone, tool or footprint surface to Norfolk Museums Service immediately.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Pay-and-display car park by the lighthouse road end.
Seasonal kiosk; toilets by the car park.
Ramp access (changes as the coast erodes — follow signed route).
This is one of the fastest-eroding coasts in Britain: the soft cliffs slump constantly and collapse without warning — never stand on, under, or dig into them. Beach levels change dramatically between visits; the sea reaches the cliffs at high water.
Fossil Forecast