Yorkshire · Directions ↗
Landslides regularly reshape this coast — your route back may not look like the map. Check your return route on the way out.
Today at Ravenscar
FairBig tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.4 m low tide falls at lunchtime.
Safe window: 11:18am – 2:18pm
Leave the beach by 2:18pm — 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 0.4 m low tide falls at lunchtime.
20° · overcast · 1mm rain · Low tide: 12:53am (1.1 m), 1:18pm (0.4 m) · Wind up to 36 km/h · Waves 0.6 m
Safe window: 11:52am – 2:52pm
Leave the beach by 2:52pm — 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 at lunchtime.
16° · clear · 2mm rain · Low tide: 1:29am (1.1 m), 1:52pm (0.6 m) · Wind up to 17 km/h · Waves 0.3 m
Safe window: 12:23pm – 3:23pm
Leave the beach by 3:23pm — 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.
21° · mostly clear · Low tide: 2:01am (1.1 m), 2:23pm (0.9 m) · Wind up to 23 km/h · Waves 0.6 m
Safe window: 12:54pm – 3:54pm
Leave the beach by 3:54pm — 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.
19° · clear · 3mm rain · Low tide: 2:33am (1.3 m), 2:54pm (1.3 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 0.6 m
Safe window: 1:25pm – 4:25pm
Leave the beach by 4:25pm — 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.
17° · overcast · Low tide: 3:05am (1.5 m), 3:25pm (1.7 m) · Wind up to 21 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Safe window: 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Leave the beach by 5:00pm — 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.
15° · mostly clear · Low tide: 3:40am (1.8 m), 4:00pm (2.1 m) · Wind up to 28 km/h · Waves 0.9 m
Safe window: 2:42pm – 5:42pm
Leave the beach by 5:42pm — 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.
16° · clear · Low tide: 4:21am (2.2 m), 4:42pm (2.5 m) · Wind up to 29 km/h · Waves 0.9 m
Search the boulder fields below the old alum works — ammonites here can be impressively large, showing as coils on boulder faces. Loose finds concentrate along the tideline; this remote shore is rarely picked over.
Ammonites and belemnites weather out of the soft clays; crushed white shell patches often mark productive spots. Jet is matt black and feather-light. Free identification: the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough — the birthplace of English geology — welcomes enquiries.
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Collecting loose fossils from the beach is long-established and accepted here.
Never allowed: No digging into the cliffs or hammering in-place rock on this SSSI coast.
Important finds: Report significant finds to the Rotunda Museum, Scarborough.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Roadside parking near the National Trust visitor centre, Ravenscar.
NT visitor centre and tearoom at the top; nothing at shore level.
Long steep path to a remote rocky shore — allow plenty of time and energy for the climb back.
Remote, with no quick exit: a turned tide or twisted ankle here is serious. Check tides carefully and carry a charged phone; signal is patchy.
Fossil Forecast