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Today at Runswick Bay
FairBig tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.7 m low tide falls at lunchtime.
Safe window: 10:16am – 1:16pm
Leave the beach by 1:16pm — 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 at lunchtime.
16° · mostly clear · Low tide: 12:16pm (0.7 m) · Wind up to 18 km/h · Waves 0.5 m
Safe window: 10:50am – 1:50pm
Leave the beach by 1:50pm — 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.
22° · mostly clear · Low tide: 12:22am (1.2 m), 12:50pm (0.9 m) · Wind up to 27 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 11:22am – 2:22pm
Leave the beach by 2:22pm — 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.
20° · overcast · Low tide: 12:56am (1.3 m), 1:22pm (1.2 m) · Wind up to 34 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 11:54am – 2:54pm
Leave the beach by 2:54pm — 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.
16° · overcast · Low tide: 1:29am (1.5 m), 1:54pm (1.6 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 1.1 m
Safe window: 12:28pm – 3:28pm
Leave the beach by 3:28pm — 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 · 2mm rain · Low tide: 2:04am (1.8 m), 2:28pm (2.0 m) · Wind up to 34 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Safe window: 1:09pm – 4:09pm
Leave the beach by 4:09pm — 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° · mostly clear · Low tide: 2:45am (2.1 m), 3:09pm (2.4 m) · Wind up to 30 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Safe window: 2:08pm – 5:08pm
Leave the beach by 5:08pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-afternoon, though it is not an especially big one.
17° · mostly clear · 1mm rain · Low tide: 3:38am (2.4 m), 4:08pm (2.7 m) · Wind up to 32 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Walk south towards Kettleness at low water and search the scars and loose shale — ammonites and jet fragments wash into the gullies between the rock fingers. The far end of the bay is fresher ground than the busy village end.
Ammonites hide inside rounded grey nodules — a coiled edge showing at the rim is the giveaway (take nodules home to split carefully; never hammer at the cliff). Jet is matt black, feather-light and warm to the touch; sea coal looks similar but heavier and dirtier. Belemnites are amber bullet-shaped rods. Free identification: Whitby Museum welcomes photo 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; leave the jet seams alone — commercial jet digging has damaged this coast.
Important finds: Report significant finds to Whitby Museum.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Car park at the bottom of the bank (fills early) or the cliff-top car park.
Toilets, café and pub in the village.
Easy onto sand; hunt south along the boulders towards Kettleness.
The far (Kettleness) end of the bay cuts off on a rising tide. Jet and ammonite nodules come from unstable shale — do not climb the cliff or dig into it.
Fossil Forecast