Dorset · Directions ↗
Today at Ringstead Bay
Quiet dayWhy: Low tide falls towards evening, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
Safe window: 3:13pm – 6:13pm
Leave the beach by 6:13pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls towards evening, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
14° · mostly clear · 4mm rain · Low tide: 4:19am (0.8 m), 5:13pm (0.9 m), 9:08pm (1.0 m) · Wind up to 22 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
No safe daylight window
Why: No low tide during daylight, so there is little fresh foreshore to search.
14° · overcast · 17mm rain · Low tide: 4:46am (1.0 m), 9:05pm (0.9 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 0.9 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 85 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
15° · drizzle · 13mm rain · Low tide: 8:46am (1.1 m), 9:43pm (0.8 m) · Wind up to 47 km/h · Waves 2.0 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 77 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
14° · overcast · 24mm rain · Low tide: 9:49am (0.9 m), 10:24pm (0.6 m) · Wind up to 45 km/h · Waves 1.7 m
No safe daylight window
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Winds gusting around 102 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
14° · overcast · 7mm rain · Low tide: 10:35am (0.7 m), 11:05pm (0.4 m) · Wind up to 57 km/h · Waves 2.1 m
Safe window: 9:18am – 12:18pm
Leave the beach by 12:18pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A recent westerly blow should have brought fresh cliff material onto the beach. An early-autumn blow like this restocks beaches after the quiet summer. A big 0.5 m low tide falls at lunchtime.
16° · drizzle · 15mm rain · Low tide: 11:18am (0.5 m), 1:50pm (0.6 m), 11:45pm (0.3 m) · Wind up to 34 km/h · Waves 1.6 m
No safe daylight window
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Winds gusting around 77 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
17° · mostly clear · 3mm rain · Low tide: 1:00am (0.4 m), 11:00am (0.4 m), 1:38pm (0.5 m), 11:24pm (0.2 m) · Wind up to 43 km/h · Waves 1.3 m
Walk east towards White Nothe and search the foreshore ledges and gravel at low water — oysters and ammonites wash from the Kimmeridge Clay. The rock pools hold polished fragments the sea has already prepared for you.
Ammonites show as coiled ridges in grey limestone, or as golden pyrite spirals the size of a coin. Belemnites are smooth amber-brown rods shaped like rifle bullets. Ichthyosaur vertebrae look like dark, shiny cotton reels. Free identification: the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre identifies finds in person and from emailed photos (charmouth.org).
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils from the beach are fine to keep for a personal collection.
Never allowed: No digging or hammering into cliffs or bedrock on this protected (SSSI) coast.
Important finds: Report scientifically significant finds to Dorset Museum in Dorchester.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Private toll road down to a beachside car park, or NT car park on the ridge above.
Small seasonal kiosk; otherwise none.
Easy from the lower car park; walk east towards White Nothe for the Kimmeridge Clay.
Landslipped undercliff east of the bay is unstable — keep to the beach. Remote towards White Nothe; watch the tide.
Fossil Forecast