South Wales · Directions ↗
Today at Southerndown / Dunraven 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: 4:52pm – 6:49pm
Leave the beach by 6:49pm — 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.
13° · drizzle · 3mm rain · Low tide: 5:58am (3.9 m), 6:52pm (4.0 m) · Wind up to 23 km/h · Waves 0.7 m
Safe window: 6:39pm – 6:47pm
Leave the beach by 6:47pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls towards evening, though it is not an especially big one. Daylight cuts the collecting window to under 45 minutes, so don't plan a long session. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
13° · overcast · 3mm rain · Low tide: 7:34am (4.2 m), 8:39pm (4.0 m) · Wind up to 22 km/h · Waves 0.6 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Rough seas with big waves forecast — stay off the beach today.
12° · drizzle · 23mm rain · Low tide: 9:17am (4.0 m), 10:00pm (3.6 m) · Wind up to 49 km/h · Waves 3.9 m
Safe window: 8:24am – 11:24am
Leave the beach by 11:24am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Recent heavy seas should have washed fresh 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.
13° · overcast · 22mm rain · Low tide: 10:24am (3.4 m), 10:52pm (2.9 m) · Wind up to 37 km/h · Waves 1.7 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Rough seas with big waves forecast — stay off the beach today.
12° · overcast · 17mm rain · Low tide: 11:11am (2.7 m), 11:33pm (2.2 m) · Wind up to 45 km/h · Waves 3.0 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Rough seas with big waves forecast — stay off the beach today.
15° · rain · 24mm rain · Low tide: 11:50am (2.0 m) · Wind up to 27 km/h · Waves 3.2 m
No safe daylight window
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Winds gusting around 76 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
16° · drizzle · 14mm rain · Low tide: 12:10am (1.5 m), 11:27am (1.4 m), 11:45pm (1.0 m) · Wind up to 41 km/h · Waves 1.6 m
Search the rock pools and loose slabs across Dunraven Bay at low water — Gryphaea oysters lie loose in the gravel and ammonite sections show on the wave-cut platform. After winter storms the fresh block falls (viewed from a distance) feed the beach for weeks.
Ammonite impressions here can be dinner-plate size, showing as coiled ridges on fallen grey-blue slabs. 'Devil's toenails' (Gryphaea) are thick, curved oyster shells lying loose in the gravel. Free identification: photograph your find for the enquiry service at Amgueddfa Cymru — National Museum Cardiff.
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils from the beach and foreshore may be kept for personal collections.
Never allowed: No hammering or digging into the cliffs or the wave-cut ledges anywhere on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast.
Important finds: Report significant finds (this coast produced the Welsh dinosaur Dracoraptor) to Amgueddfa Cymru — National Museum Cardiff.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Car park at Dunraven Bay with a Heritage Coast Centre.
Toilets and seasonal kiosk; Heritage Coast Centre.
Short walk down a ramp onto sand and ledges.
Horizontal Lias beds drop car-sized blocks — stay well clear of the cliff base. The bay floods quickly; do not round the headlands on a rising tide.
Fossil Forecast