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Today at Herne Bay (Beltinge), Kent
Good day to huntWhy: A recent north-easterly blow should have brought fresh cliff material onto the beach. An early-autumn blow like this restocks beaches after the quiet summer. Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one.
Safe window: 10:29am – 1:29pm
Leave the beach by 1:29pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: A recent north-easterly blow should have brought fresh cliff material onto the beach. An early-autumn blow like this restocks beaches after the quiet summer. Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one.
14° · mostly clear · Low tide: 12:29pm (1.6 m) · Wind up to 14 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 11:52am – 2:52pm
Leave the beach by 2:52pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: A recent north-easterly blow should have brought fresh cliff material onto the beach. An early-autumn blow like this restocks beaches after the quiet summer. Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one.
15° · overcast · 3mm rain · Low tide: 1:07am (2.0 m), 1:52pm (1.7 m) · Wind up to 21 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 76 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
14° · mostly clear · 3mm rain · Low tide: 2:34am (2.0 m), 3:16pm (1.5 m) · Wind up to 48 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 2:21pm – 5:21pm
Leave the beach by 5:21pm — 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° · mostly clear · 2mm rain · Low tide: 3:50am (1.8 m), 4:21pm (1.2 m) · Wind up to 31 km/h · Waves 0.5 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 90 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
13° · overcast · 10mm rain · Low tide: 4:48am (1.5 m), 5:12pm (1.0 m) · Wind up to 56 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Safe window: 3:56pm – 6:20pm
Leave the beach by 6:20pm — 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 towards evening.
12° · overcast · 7mm rain · Low tide: 5:35am (1.2 m), 5:56pm (0.7 m) · Wind up to 41 km/h · Waves 0.6 m
Safe window: 3:37pm – 5:18pm
Leave the beach by 5:18pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Heavy rain in the last two days may have washed fresh material out of the cliffs. A big 0.6 m low tide falls towards evening.
18° · mostly clear · 1mm rain · Low tide: 5:17am (1.0 m), 5:37pm (0.6 m) · Wind up to 40 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Walk out towards Reculver on a falling tide and search the shell-and-pebble gravel at the low-water mark — shark teeth concentrate where the waves sort the finest gravel. Ten minutes of crouching beats an hour of strolling.
Shark teeth are glossy, dark and triangular — usually under an inch, lying in the low-water gravel. Pyrite fossils look like brassy twigs. Rounded brown nodules with rusty cracks can hide crabs and turtle bone. Identification: photograph finds for the Natural History Museum's identification service.
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils from the beach and foreshore may be kept; sieving loose gravel is fine.
Never allowed: No digging into the cliffs or sea defences on this SSSI coast.
Important finds: Unusual finds (bird bones, complete crabs, turtle material) are scientifically valuable — photograph them for the Natural History Museum.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Roadside parking at Beltinge / Reculver Drive area; car park at Reculver.
Facilities in Herne Bay and at Reculver country park.
Ramps and steps down to the shore; hunt the gravel at low tide towards Reculver.
London Clay foreshore is very slippery and muddy in patches. The sea reaches the sea defences at high water — walk out on a falling tide.
Fossil Forecast