FOSSIL hunters and beach lovers are being warned about getting too close to the cliffs at Saltburn after a dog walker captured a dramatic rock collapse on camera.

Andy Pearson was walking his dogs on Saltburn beach on Sunday morning at about 10.20am when he saw a father and two sons chipping away with a hammer to hunt fossils in fallen rocks on the beach, right at the base of the cliffs.

Minutes later he saw the cliff starting to fall and a dramatic avalanche of rock tumbled on to the beach, throwing clouds of sand into the air.

He said: “My first thought was, where is the dad and the two little boys? Luckily they had moved away from the cliffs over to the shore at that point.

“It was very dramatic. I heard this cracking noise and I thought it was the kids with the hammer still. As I looked round I saw the cliff opening up and falling away.

“I thought it was just opening up, it was weird, but it lasted for about three or four seconds and I pointed my camera at it and hoped for the best.

“There was about ten people on the beach in that area and everyone was looking in amazement. I go to Saltburn beach a lot and I do see a lot of rocks falling but I haven’t seen one that big before.

“I think we need to educate visitors to Saltburn about this as well as the unpredictable tides.”

Coastguards often warn people not to sit or stand under unstable cliffs on the beach.

And Dave Cocks, volunteer at Redcar RNLI, said: “We sometimes go to rescue people who have been cut off by the tide and they’re standing under the cliffs and they say, it’s ok, we’ll just stay here until the tide goes out again. “We have to say to them that it is dangerous to stand under the cliffs and they’re facing a double danger there of rising tides and falling rock.

“I haven’t seen it happen but I have seen the consequences because the landscape of the cliffs is changing all the time.”

Fossil hunters often visit beaches following major rock falls, and search for their treasure among the rocks that have tumbled on to the beach, that haven’t been exposed for millions of years.

The sheer rock faces at Saltburn are from the Jurassic age, rich in fossils and attract fossil hunters patient enough to hammer through the hard rock.