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Today at Sandsend
Quiet dayWhy: Low tide falls mid-afternoon, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
Safe window: 12:01pm – 3:01pm
Leave the beach by 3:01pm — 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.
19° · overcast · 2mm rain · Low tide: 2:01pm (1.2 m) · Wind up to 22 km/h · Waves 0.5 m
Safe window: 12:44pm – 3:44pm
Leave the beach by 3:44pm — 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.
20° · overcast · 1mm rain · Low tide: 2:15am (1.6 m), 2:44pm (1.6 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Safe window: 1:39pm – 4:39pm
Leave the beach by 4:39pm — 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.
19° · overcast · 2mm rain · Low tide: 3:04am (1.9 m), 3:39pm (2.0 m) · Wind up to 33 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 2:57pm – 5:57pm
Leave the beach by 5:57pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-afternoon, though it is not an especially big one.
19° · clear · Low tide: 4:12am (2.1 m), 4:57pm (2.3 m) · Wind up to 26 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 5:42am – 6:48am
Leave the beach by 6:48am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls first thing, though it is not an especially big one.
24° · mostly clear · Low tide: 5:48am (2.2 m), 6:38pm (2.5 m) · Wind up to 28 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 5:44am – 8:26am
Leave the beach by 8:26am — 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.
20° · overcast · Low tide: 7:26am (2.0 m), 8:03pm (2.3 m) · Wind up to 30 km/h · Waves 0.9 m
Safe window: 6:38am – 9:38am
Leave the beach by 9:38am — 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.
17° · overcast · 8mm rain · Low tide: 8:38am (1.6 m), 9:04pm (2.0 m) · Wind up to 34 km/h · Waves 1.1 m
Head north below the old alum quarries and search the rock pools and loose shale at low tide. Ammonites, belemnites and the odd sliver of true jet hide in the gravel — jet floats in a bucket of water, sea coal doesn't.
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 →
Pay car parks at Sandsend and along the seafront road to Whitby.
Toilets, cafés and shops in the village.
Flat access from the car park; hunt north below the old alum quarry cliffs.
The rocky stretch towards Kettleness is a tide trap — turn back as soon as the tide turns. Old quarry cliffs shed loose stone in wet weather.
Fossil Forecast