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 Whitby / Saltwick Bay
Quiet dayWhy: Low tide falls mid-morning, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
Safe window: 8:20am – 11:20am
Leave the beach by 11:20am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-morning, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
9° · overcast · Low tide: 10:20am (1.4 m), 10:36pm (1.4 m) · Wind up to 11 km/h · Waves 0.4 m
Safe window: 8:51am – 11:51am
Leave the beach by 11:51am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-morning, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
10° · overcast · 1mm rain · Low tide: 10:51am (1.5 m), 11:10pm (1.5 m) · Wind up to 14 km/h · Waves 0.9 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Rough seas with big waves forecast — stay off the beach today.
8° · mostly clear · 2mm rain · Low tide: 11:23am (1.7 m), 11:45pm (1.6 m) · Wind up to 36 km/h · Waves 2.6 m
Safe window: 9:55am – 12:55pm
Leave the beach by 12:55pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Recent heavy seas should have washed fresh material onto the beach. Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one.
6° · clear · Low tide: 11:55am (1.9 m) · Wind up to 30 km/h · Waves 2.3 m
Safe window: 10:31am – 1:31pm
Leave the beach by 1:31pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Recent heavy seas should have washed fresh material onto the beach. Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one.
8° · mostly clear · Low tide: 12:21am (1.7 m), 12:31pm (2.1 m) · Wind up to 22 km/h · Waves 1.2 m
Safe window: 11:11am – 2:11pm
Leave the beach by 2:11pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Recent heavy seas should have washed fresh material onto the beach. Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one.
8° · overcast · Low tide: 1:01am (1.9 m), 1:11pm (2.3 m) · Wind up to 20 km/h · Waves 0.5 m
Safe window: 11:59am – 2:59pm
Leave the beach by 2:59pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Recent heavy seas should have washed fresh material onto the beach. Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one.
9° · mostly clear · Low tide: 1:47am (2.1 m), 1:59pm (2.5 m) · Wind up to 28 km/h · Waves 1.4 m
Search the scaurs and boulder gaps at Saltwick at low water, especially after a northerly blow. Nodules with coiled edges, belemnites and jet fragments are all found loose — the beach renews itself with every rough tide.
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 →
Abbey car park above Saltwick, or park in Whitby and walk.
Holiday park shop above Saltwick in season; full facilities in Whitby.
Steep path down from the holiday park, or along the shore from Whitby at low water.
Saltwick Bay traps visitors on the rising tide year after year — both exits flood before the middle of the beach. Go down on a falling tide, know your return time, and never rely on climbing out.
Fossil Forecast