Norfolk · Directions ↗
Today at Hunstanton
Quiet dayWhy: Low tide falls first thing, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
Safe window: 6:56am – 7:50am
Leave the beach by 7:50am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls first thing, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
15° · overcast · 5mm rain · Low tide: 6:50am (2.7 m), 7:21pm (3.2 m) · Wind up to 12 km/h · Waves 1.1 m
Safe window: 6:58am – 9:14am
Leave the beach by 9:14am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls first thing, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
13° · overcast · 2mm rain · Low tide: 8:14am (2.7 m), 8:53pm (3.2 m) · Wind up to 23 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 7:36am – 10:36am
Leave the beach by 10:36am — 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.
12° · drizzle · 9mm rain · Low tide: 9:36am (2.5 m), 10:09pm (2.9 m) · Wind up to 39 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Safe window: 8:38am – 11:38am
Leave the beach by 11:38am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: A recent north-westerly 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 mid-morning, though it is not an especially big one.
11° · mostly clear · 1mm rain · Low tide: 10:38am (2.1 m), 11:05pm (2.5 m) · Wind up to 31 km/h · Waves 0.9 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 86 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
12° · drizzle · 16mm rain · Low tide: 11:28am (1.7 m), 11:50pm (2.1 m) · Wind up to 54 km/h · Waves 1.4 m
Safe window: 10:11am – 1:11pm
Leave the beach by 1:11pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: A recent north-westerly 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.
11° · mostly clear · 5mm rain · Low tide: 12:11pm (1.3 m) · Wind up to 40 km/h · Waves 0.9 m
No safe daylight window
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Winds gusting around 71 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
17° · drizzle · 4mm rain · Low tide: 12:32am (1.7 m), 11:52am (1.0 m) · Wind up to 46 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Search the fallen blocks and chalk rubble spread along the beach — belemnites and sea urchins weather out and collect in the gravel between the boulders. The blocks on the open beach have already fallen; those are the safe ones to search.
Belemnites weather out of the striped red-and-white chalk as amber bullet shapes. Sea urchins appear as domed flints with a faint five-pointed star. Brachiopod shells pepper the fallen blocks. Identification: Norfolk Museums Service accepts photo enquiries; Lynn Museum is nearest.
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils and bones from the beach may be kept for personal collections.
Never allowed: No digging into the cliffs — the fossil-bearing beds are protected (SSSI) and the cliffs are dangerously unstable anyway.
Important finds: Large bones may be part of a bigger skeleton — report them to Norfolk Museums Service before removing anything substantial.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Large seafront car parks along the Esplanade and at the cliff top.
Full seaside-town facilities: toilets, cafés, shops.
Flat access onto sand below the famous red-and-white striped cliffs.
Blocks fall from the undercut Red Chalk and Carstone cliffs — stay off the fallen debris and away from the base. Wide flats and fast tides over the Wash sandbanks.
Fossil Forecast