South Wales · Directions ↗
Today at Southerndown / Dunraven Bay
FairBig tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 1.5 m low tide falls at lunchtime.
Safe window: 10:36am – 1:36pm
Leave the beach by 1:36pm — 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 1.5 m low tide falls at lunchtime.
8° · drizzle · 8mm rain · Low tide: 12:18am (1.4 m), 12:36pm (1.5 m) · Wind up to 34 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Safe window: 11:08am – 2:08pm
Leave the beach by 2:08pm — 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.
10° · overcast · 1mm rain · Low tide: 12:49am (1.4 m), 1:08pm (1.5 m) · Wind up to 26 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Safe window: 11:40am – 2:40pm
Leave the beach by 2:40pm — 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.
8° · clear · Low tide: 1:21am (1.6 m), 1:40pm (1.7 m) · Wind up to 20 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 12:14pm – 3:14pm
Leave the beach by 3:14pm — 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: 1:53am (1.8 m), 2:14pm (2.0 m) · Wind up to 10 km/h · Waves 0.3 m
Safe window: 12:49pm – 3:49pm
Leave the beach by 3:49pm — 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: 2:26am (2.2 m), 2:49pm (2.4 m) · Wind up to 14 km/h · Waves 0.3 m
Safe window: 1:29pm – 4:29pm
Leave the beach by 4:29pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-afternoon, though it is not an especially big one.
9° · drizzle · 4mm rain · Low tide: 3:02am (2.6 m), 3:29pm (2.8 m) · Wind up to 18 km/h · Waves 0.4 m
Safe window: 2:16pm – 5:03pm
Leave the beach by 5:03pm — 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.
12° · overcast · 3mm rain · Low tide: 3:44am (3.1 m), 4:16pm (3.2 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 0.9 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.
Fossil Forecast