Inshore coastal areas of the United Kingdom


The inshore coastal areas of the United Kingdom are 15 fixed stretches of coastline that are used in weather forecasting especially for wind-powered or small coastal craft. Each area is delimited by geographical features such as headlands, seaports or estuaries. When used as part of a broadcast weather forecast they are mentioned in the same order, clockwise round the mainland starting and finishing in the north west of the island of Great Britain. The Isle of Man is included in the forecasts but it is not part of the United Kingdom.

List of Inshore coastal areas

  1. Cape Wrath – Rattray Head including Orkney
  2. Rattray Head – Berwick-upon-Tweed
  3. Berwick – Whitby
  4. Whitby – Gibraltar Point
  5. Gibraltar Point – North Foreland
  6. North Foreland – Selsey Bill
  7. Selsey Bill – Lyme Regis
  8. Lyme Regis – Land's End including the Isles of Scilly
  9. Land's End - St David's Head including the Bristol Channel
  10. St David’s Head – Great Orme's Head including St George's Channel
  11. Great Orme's Head – Mull of Galloway
  12. Isle of Man
  13. Lough Foyle – Carlingford Lough
  14. Mull of Galloway – Mull of Kintyre including the Firth of Clyde and the North Channel
  15. Mull of Kintyre – Ardnamurchan Point
  16. Ardnamurchan Point – Cape Wrath including the Outer Hebrides
  17. Shetland Isles
The BBC's coastal forecast splits some of these into shorter lengths of coast. The points at which they are split are Duncansby Head, Fife Ness, Harwich, Thames Estuary, Beachy Head, The Solent, St Albans Head, Start Point, Hartland Point, Holyhead, Morecambe Bay, Firth of Clyde. Additionally, there is a forecast for the Channel Islands.