Somerset · Directions ↗
Today at Watchet
Quiet dayWhy: 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. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
Safe window: 7:10am – 7:21am
Leave the beach by 7:21am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: 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. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
13° · overcast · 4mm rain · Low tide: 6:21am (4.2 m), 7:09pm (4.3 m) · Wind up to 31 km/h · Waves 0.5 m
Safe window: 7:12am – 8:49am
Leave the beach by 8:49am — 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 · 6mm rain · Low tide: 7:49am (4.5 m), 8:47pm (4.3 m) · Wind up to 17 km/h · Waves 0.4 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Rough seas with big waves forecast — stay off the beach today.
13° · drizzle · 22mm rain · Low tide: 9:22am (4.2 m), 10:05pm (3.8 m) · Wind up to 76 km/h · Waves 2.8 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 68 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
14° · overcast · 14mm rain · Low tide: 10:28am (3.6 m), 11:00pm (3.0 m) · Wind up to 50 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 151 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
13° · overcast · 8mm rain · Low tide: 11:17am (2.8 m), 11:43pm (2.3 m) · Wind up to 108 km/h · Waves 2.1 m
No safe daylight window
Why: Winds gusting around 71 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
16° · drizzle · 5mm rain · Low tide: 11:58am (1.9 m) · Wind up to 53 km/h · Waves 2.2 m
No safe daylight window
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: Winds gusting around 91 km/h forecast — not a day to be under cliffs.
17° · drizzle · 1mm rain · Low tide: 12:22am (1.5 m), 11:36am (1.2 m), 11:59pm (1.0 m) · Wind up to 68 km/h · Waves 1.2 m
Walk east to Helwell Bay at low tide and search the loose stone between the ammonite-bearing ledges. The tide rinses new material out of the boulder clay constantly — the best finds sit loose on the surface waiting to be noticed.
Giant ammonites — some nearly a metre across — sit in the flat ledges: photograph them, they must stay. Loose finds are smaller ammonites, ridged oysters and occasional dark, dense reptile bone. Identification help: Watchet Market House Museum (seasonal), or photograph finds for a museum enquiry.
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils from the beach may be kept for personal collections.
Never allowed: This SSSI coast has a strict no-hammering code — do not hammer or dig the ledges, cliffs or in-place ammonites.
Important finds: Ask at Watchet Market House Museum about significant finds.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Pay car parks in Watchet town, near the harbour and station.
Full town facilities: toilets, cafés, museum.
East to Helwell Bay for the classic ammonite ledges; west towards Blue Anchor for alabaster cliffs.
Fast-flooding tide across wide ledges — check tide times at the harbour before setting out. Unstable, faulted cliffs: keep off the base and the fallen mud.
Fossil Forecast