South Wales
Today at Southerndown / Dunraven Bay
FairBig tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
A big 1.1 m low tide falls at lunchtime.
Safe window: 11:51am – 2:51pm
Leave the beach by 2:51pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
A big 1.1 m low tide falls at lunchtime.
Low tide: 1:51pm (1.1 m) · Wind up to 31 km/h · Waves 0.6 m
Safe window: 12:39pm – 3:39pm
Leave the beach by 3:39pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
A big 0.9 m low tide falls mid-afternoon.
Low tide: 2:20am (0.9 m), 2:39pm (0.9 m) · Wind up to 21 km/h · Waves 0.4 m
Safe window: 1:24pm – 4:24pm
Leave the beach by 4:24pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
A big 0.9 m low tide falls mid-afternoon.
Low tide: 3:06am (0.8 m), 3:24pm (0.9 m) · Wind up to 17 km/h · Waves 0.4 m
Safe window: 4:35am – 4:50am
Leave the beach by 4:50am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
A big 0.9 m low tide falls first thing. Daylight cuts the collecting window to under 45 minutes, so don't plan a long session.
Low tide: 3:50am (0.9 m), 4:07pm (1.2 m) · Wind up to 15 km/h · Waves 0.4 m
Safe window: 4:37am – 5:32am
Leave the beach by 5:32am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
A big 1.2 m low tide falls first thing.
Low tide: 4:32am (1.2 m), 4:48pm (1.6 m) · Wind up to 19 km/h · Waves 0.5 m
Safe window: 4:38am – 6:13am
Leave the beach by 6:13am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Low tide falls first thing, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
Low tide: 5:13am (1.6 m), 5:29pm (2.1 m) · Wind up to 14 km/h · Waves 0.4 m
Safe window: 4:40am – 6:54am
Leave the beach by 6:54am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Low tide falls first thing, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
Low tide: 5:54am (2.2 m), 6:12pm (2.6 m) · Wind up to 17 km/h · Waves 0.4 m
Search the rock pools and loose slabs across Dunraven Bay at low water — Gryphaea oysters lie loose in the gravel and ammonite sections show on the wave-cut platform. After winter storms the fresh block falls (viewed from a distance) feed the beach for weeks.
Ammonite impressions here can be dinner-plate size, showing as coiled ridges on fallen grey-blue slabs. 'Devil's toenails' (Gryphaea) are thick, curved oyster shells lying loose in the gravel. Free identification: photograph your find for the enquiry service at Amgueddfa Cymru — National Museum Cardiff.
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils from the beach and foreshore may be kept for personal collections.
Never allowed: No hammering or digging into the cliffs or the wave-cut ledges anywhere on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast.
Important finds: Report significant finds (this coast produced the Welsh dinosaur Dracoraptor) to Amgueddfa Cymru — National Museum Cardiff.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Car park at Dunraven Bay with a Heritage Coast Centre.
Toilets and seasonal kiosk; Heritage Coast Centre.
Short walk down a ramp onto sand and ledges.
Horizontal Lias beds drop car-sized blocks — stay well clear of the cliff base. The bay floods quickly; do not round the headlands on a rising tide.