Cowbar near Staithes

The village is increasingly precarious as Cowbar Nab shrinks continually due to cliff erosion.

The cliff is not very good at resisting weathering and waves.

Lower down it is a rather soft and flakey shale, upper layers appear to be glacial debris such as boulder clay.

The rounded glacial boulders from the clay layer tumble to the foreshore and sit on the flat shale surface in a rather photogenic way at low tide.