Next 48 hours
Next days
The 7-day forecast, hourly plan and an alert for this beach are in pre-sale.
See the pre-saleWhere to look
Drive the toll road to the car park above the bay. Look through loose pieces of shale and the shingle on the beach after a south-westerly storm. Flat shale slabs with ammonites often lie near the water line.
What you can find
ammonites, bivalves, fish scales and teeth, marine reptile bones (rare)
Best wind: SW, S, W
Rules and safety
The bay is an SSSI owned by the Smedmore Estate. Hammering the cliffs and shale ledges is forbidden; you may collect only loose fossils from the foreshore under the Fossil Collectors Code. Leave the ledges alone and keep well away from the cliff foot, which falls often.
About the cliff
Kimmeridge Bay is on the Isle of Purbeck. Its dark Upper Jurassic shales gave their name to the whole Kimmeridgian stage. The village has The Etches Collection, a museum of fossils collected by Steve Etches.
Do not miss the next window
The best windows last a few hours: after a storm, after rain, on a clear night with an active Sun. Sign up and we will email you when the index at your spots goes above 60.