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Today at Staithes
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: 3:28pm – 6:28pm
Leave the beach by 6:28pm — 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° · overcast · 2mm rain · Low tide: 5:04am (2.5 m), 5:28pm (2.9 m) · Wind up to 26 km/h · Waves 2.0 m
Safe window: 7:05am – 7:45am
Leave the beach by 7:45am — 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 first thing, though it is not an especially big one. Daylight cuts the collecting window to under 45 minutes, so don't plan a long session.
13° · overcast · 11mm rain · Low tide: 6:45am (2.5 m), 7:11pm (2.8 m) · Wind up to 27 km/h · Waves 2.1 m
Safe window: 7:07am – 9:00am
Leave the beach by 9:00am — 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 first thing, though it is not an especially big one.
13° · drizzle · 14mm rain · Low tide: 8:00am (2.2 m), 8:22pm (2.6 m) · Wind up to 32 km/h · Waves 1.8 m
Safe window: 7:09am – 9:54am
Leave the beach by 9:54am — 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 first thing, though it is not an especially big one.
11° · clear · Low tide: 8:54am (1.9 m), 9:13pm (2.2 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 1.4 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 103 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
13° · drizzle · 49mm rain · Low tide: 9:36am (1.5 m), 9:54pm (1.9 m) · Wind up to 62 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Safe window: 8:14am – 11:14am
Leave the beach by 11:14am — 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.
10° · overcast · Low tide: 10:14am (1.2 m), 10:31pm (1.5 m) · Wind up to 42 km/h · Waves 1.3 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 78 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
16° · mostly clear · 2mm rain · Low tide: 9:51am (0.9 m), 10:07pm (1.2 m) · Wind up to 48 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Round Penny Nab on a falling tide and search the rock pools and nodule-strewn scars towards Port Mulgrave. Grey rounded nodules with a hint of a coil at the edge are the prize — gather them loose from the beach and split them at home.
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 →
Car park at the top of the village (the old bank is too steep and narrow for parking below).
Toilets, cafés and pubs in the village.
Walk through the harbour; hunt east towards Port Mulgrave under Penny Nab at low tide.
The stretch beyond Penny Nab cuts off on a rising tide. Constant small rockfalls from the shale cliffs — helmets are sensible, standing under overhangs is not.
Fossil Forecast