Norfolk · Directions ↗
Today at Hunstanton
Quiet dayWhy: Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
Safe window: 11:07am – 2:07pm
Leave the beach by 2:07pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
11° · overcast · Low tide: 12:54am (1.5 m), 1:07pm (1.3 m) · Wind up to 12 km/h · Waves 0.3 m
Safe window: 11:39am – 2:39pm
Leave the beach by 2:39pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
11° · clear · Low tide: 1:26am (1.4 m), 1:39pm (1.5 m) · Wind up to 17 km/h · Waves 0.5 m
Safe window: 12:11pm – 3:11pm
Leave the beach by 3:11pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-afternoon, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
8° · mostly clear · Low tide: 1:59am (1.5 m), 2:11pm (1.7 m) · Wind up to 27 km/h · Waves 1.6 m
Safe window: 12:44pm – 3:44pm
Leave the beach by 3:44pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-afternoon, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
6° · clear · Low tide: 2:33am (1.6 m), 2:44pm (1.9 m) · Wind up to 24 km/h · Waves 1.4 m
Safe window: 1:20pm – 4:20pm
Leave the beach by 4:20pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-afternoon, though it is not an especially big one.
6° · overcast · Low tide: 3:08am (1.7 m), 3:20pm (2.2 m) · Wind up to 17 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 1:59pm – 4:44pm
Leave the beach by 4:44pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-afternoon, though it is not an especially big one.
8° · overcast · Low tide: 3:47am (1.9 m), 3:59pm (2.5 m) · Wind up to 17 km/h · Waves 0.3 m
Safe window: 2:45pm – 4:42pm
Leave the beach by 4:42pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-afternoon, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
10° · overcast · 2mm rain · Low tide: 4:31am (2.1 m), 4:45pm (2.8 m) · Wind up to 22 km/h · Waves 0.3 m
Search the fallen blocks and chalk rubble spread along the beach — belemnites and sea urchins weather out and collect in the gravel between the boulders. The blocks on the open beach have already fallen; those are the safe ones to search.
Belemnites weather out of the striped red-and-white chalk as amber bullet shapes. Sea urchins appear as domed flints with a faint five-pointed star. Brachiopod shells pepper the fallen blocks. Identification: Norfolk Museums Service accepts photo enquiries; Lynn Museum is nearest.
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils and bones from the beach may be kept for personal collections.
Never allowed: No digging into the cliffs — the fossil-bearing beds are protected (SSSI) and the cliffs are dangerously unstable anyway.
Important finds: Large bones may be part of a bigger skeleton — report them to Norfolk Museums Service before removing anything substantial.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Large seafront car parks along the Esplanade and at the cliff top.
Full seaside-town facilities: toilets, cafés, shops.
Flat access onto sand below the famous red-and-white striped cliffs.
Blocks fall from the undercut Red Chalk and Carstone cliffs — stay off the fallen debris and away from the base. Wide flats and fast tides over the Wash sandbanks.
Fossil Forecast