GeologyRocksFossil hunting spots.
- Login to post a new forum topic.
Rank:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Fri, 02/03/2006 - 08:25The easiest place I've ever been to find fossils was undoutably Wrens Nest in Dudley, where you're literally treading all over some of the smaller ones in the scree in some places. If anyone doesn't know of the Wrens Nest, it's an outcrop of Silurian Wenlock Limestone. It's a SSSI so no hammering, but to be honest so many little corals and brachipods have come out of the rock already that you can just pick them up off the floor.
Knowing the local inhabitants of the Wrens Nest though, you might want to take a hammer in self defence...
If you call the warden up before hand he'll probably take you round and show you the best bits. He's nice like that.
I also remember going to Lyme Regis when I was younger, and finding tyre-sized ammonites on the beach. Very cool.
Rank:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 19:11Charmouth's the place to be at the moment because there's been a huge landslip. But you'll have to hurry because it's going fast!
But here's a good one that virtually nobody knows about: Aygill in Cumbria, overlooking Barbondale. Where the gill crosses the limestone I did a dig once. Virtually every rock in the streambed had superb brown weathered Carb Lst fossils in a grey matrix. Corals, brachiopods, crinoids, even a trilobite, all in exquisite detail.
let me know fyou find anthing good.
Gus
Rank:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Mon, 02/06/2006 - 08:52Matt
The grid ref is SD 663 818. Drive up to Bull Pot Farm, where you can park (HQ of Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club). Walk north along a track and you'll see Aygill after a few hundred metres on the right. Incidentally, Ease Gill to the SE contains the longest cave system in Britain at 50 miles plus.
Gus
Rank:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Mon, 02/06/2006 - 14:23You would have to get a bus from Kirkby Lonsdale to Casterton and then walk about 5 miles up the lane to Bull Pot Farm. It's not an ideal area for public transport. I suppose the other possibility would be to walk up the gill from Barbondale but, although it's less distance, it's a steep uphill slog.
I'll try and come up with some more accessible locations for you.
Gus
Rank:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Fri, 04/07/2006 - 11:19Afer having a fieldtrip to Charmouth last weekend 1st-4th April I have to say I was quite impressed with the fossils I found there.
However the most recent landslides which we had to traverse had already been scoured by fossil hunters but there were several people who got stuck in the mud (up to there knees)when we were there. We all came up with a theory that if they were left for several million years and the sea level rose and charmouth became part of an anaerobic ocean basin then one day they would become iron pyrites fossilised humans. Unfotunately, for future geologists, we used out geological hammer to dig them out.
We also found a blow moulded plastic bottle within a landslide. Could this be proof of ancient intellegence, possibly from the ammonites or belumnites.
Rank:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Fri, 04/07/2006 - 15:22Afer having a fieldtrip to Charmouth last weekend 1st-4th April I have to say I was quite impressed with the fossils I found there.
We also found a blow moulded plastic bottle within a landslide. Could this be proof of ancient intellegence, possibly from the ammonites or belumnites.
I once found the top half of pair of falshe gnashersh in the mud at Charmouth, on one of thoshe mud shelvesh halfway up the cliffsh. Ash you can shee they don't fit very well.
Gush
Rank:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Mon, 04/10/2006 - 07:51Do you reckon the teeth were early hominid fossils? 
Jon
Yesh I shink sho. Have tried ushing shuper glue to shtick fragmentsh together and preshent to Natural Hishtory Musheum but they're not intereshted sho they're in my collection inshtead.
Oh fantastic, I've just found my old pair in a heap of dust underneath the bed. That's better.
Gus
Rank:
Roles:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Wed, 04/26/2006 - 21:00Reminds me of the "fossil-hominid" Barbie letter
http://strangeplaces.net/weirdthings/barbie.html
Just a pity it isn't true
Rank:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Wed, 05/03/2006 - 07:42Sorry John. I'll remember next time. North Yorkshire. And the only geology I got to see was Goldsborough Carr, where I spent a couple of days bouldering. Otherwise it was birdwatching, but got some great stuff - bitterns, long-eared owl, goshawk, garganey, grasshopper warblers....
Gus
Rank:
Roles:
Contact:
Fossil hunting spots.
Submitted by Matt on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 22:43.I guess this comes under "field trip localities", so I think this is the right section.
Why don't we exchange favorite fossil hunting spots and give each other tips on what to look out for?
Staithes, North Yorkshire is a good one. It's a nice quiet fishing village set in a little valley surrounded by high cliffs of Jurassic sandstones and shales, and the Cleveland Ironstone formation. I've only explored the section between Staithes & Port Mulgrave.
East of the town it is mainly wave-cut platform you'll be walking on, so remember to take notice of the tides. If you get cut off from Staithes, you can climb the cliff at Port Mulgrave and walk back along the top. I can't remember the area in too much detail I'm afraid, but you can find plenty of ammonites, belemnites (en masse in some beds) and pecten-like bivalves. There are also a number of large coprolites on the wave cut platform near to Staithes. There are some good shrimp burrow casts which I think were at Old Nab, though I'm not sure. There is quite a bit of rafted wood and some jet to be found in some of the rocks, a well as some other plant matter. Marine Dinosaurs have been found occasionally, so keep an eye out! Some of the best ammonites will be found in round concretions lying on the beach, with just the edge of the shell sticking out, and a few gentle taps with a hammer along the join will normally separate it and give you a good complete specimine.
The area has been exploited for Cleveland Ironstone, so don't scratch your heads too hard over the parallel striations on the platform or the strange hollows in the cliff.
If you fancy examining some more exotic rocks, take a look at the sea defences west of the harbour. There are some pretty nice rocks on the artificial beach to collect as well as some interesting boulders on the harbour wall (You may think of that as "cheating", but this is Eastern England! Mesozoic sedimentary and the odd till-derived erratic is all we have normally!)