Rockwatch Field Trip Update
The Hastings field trip is now FULL but don’t worry – there are still some spaces on our other planned field trips including – Saturday, 11 June 2022 14:00 – 16:00 Pebble Hunt at Thorndon Country Park Thorndon Country Park, Brentwood Essex Saturday, 18 June 2022 All Day Yorkshire Jurassic Coast trip to Whitby Saturday, 2 July 2022 All Day Kings Dyke Nature Reserve, Peterborough Saturday, 16 July 2022 –...
Fond Farewell to Rockwatch’s Geraldine
After more than 20 years of Rockwatch adventures, our amazing Geraldine is hanging up her hard hat to enjoy a new challenge. Many of our Rockwatchers will know Geraldine, who has managed the memberships and events for Rockwatch over the years. She’s also played a big part on our field trips and helped the Geologists’ Association in this capacity too. We know she won’t be far away and will keep in touch (and hopefully...
South Wales Annual Weekend Field Trip Details and Tickets Now Available
Rockwatch Welsh Weekend Field Trip 16 – 17 July 2022 We’re excited to share more details about the forthcoming Rockwatch Weekend Field Trip to South Wales and you can now book to come! It promises to be a weekend full of coastal geology around the Cardiff area. All this for just £2.50 per person. What are you waiting for? Find out more and Book...
A Fossily Good Time at Lowewood Museum
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a day of fossil fun on Friday. lowewood-museum-filling-plaster-fossils Image 1 of 14 Filling the plaster cast - making dinosaur fossils Rockwatchers had a fantastic day with the Lowewood Museum and Rockwatch team on Friday 8 April. It was so good to meet you face to face again during the Easter holidays. Inspired by some real fossils from the collection at the Museum, the children had fun...
Summer Events Programme Announced
The Rockwatch Summer Events Programme is now live and we’re taking bookings! We’re so excited to be putting the wellies, hi-viz jackets and hard hats on this summer and meeting up with our Rockwatch families once again. We have an evolving programme of trips coming up and hope many of our loyal Rockwatchers will return and that our newer families will join us at events for the first time. Over the coming months we’ll...
Issue 90 of the Rockwatch Magazine: published April 2022
Issue 90 Contents List: published April 2022 the-beginning Image 1 of 7 THE BIG BANG AND ONWARDS LOST, BUT NOT WITHOUT TRACE! The trails left by plants and animals GOOEY SURPRISE AT THE SEASIDE Natural asphalt drips onto beach SEARCHING FOR LIFE BEYOND EARTH What’s on our red planet neighbour NANOCLAY WEAVES CROP MAGIC Clay works a miracle in the desert THE BEGINNING…OF THE BEGINNING…OF THE BEGINNING The big bang and...
Field Trips are Back!
BIG NEWS – Rockwatch field trips are back this summer! After what seems like a massive geologic period of time during the covid pandemic, we’re excited to be dusting off our hard hats and hi-vis jackets for a summer of geology field trips. The full events programme will be published in your next magazine that’s due out in April and also be added to the events section of the website, but we couldn’t wait to tell...
Join Rockwatch and Lowewood Museum for some Fossil Fun!
Please come along and join Rockwatch and Lowewood Museum for a day of Fossil Fun on Friday 8 April 2022 from 10.30am-4.00pm. There’s no need to book in advance and entry is FREE! Fossil fun activities include – Making a Jurassic landscape Creating your own plaster cast fossils Dino hunt around the museum Bring your fossils to have them identified and see other fossils on display Admission is FREE but donations are welcome....
Join the Rockwatch Team – Admin Assistant Part Time Role Available
We are looking for a Part Time Administrative Assistant to join our team. The role offers an exciting opportunity be part of the Geologists’ Association and Rockwatch, where you would play an important role in helping us to achieve our charitable objective of actively promoting the study of geology to all who are interested in the past, present, and future of the natural world. Founded in 1858 and based in Central London the...
Harrow and Hillingdon’s Rock Show Returns
The Harrow and Hillingdon Geological Society Rock Show online is back! This is a fantastic site for Earth Science students and teachers at Key Stage 2 which provides helpful insights into rocks and fossils. New for 2022 is Holiday Geology, which features top geological sites in England and Wales and beyond for you to seek out when you are on your holidays. Helpfully produced as a series of Guides, Holiday Geology offers you a great...
Issue 89 of the Rockwatch Magazine: published December 2021
Issue 89 Contents List: published December 2021 highland fling - Earth's oldest rocks Image 1 of 8 highland fling - A chance to stand on Earth’s oldest rocks HIGHLAND FLING A chance to stand on Earth’s oldest rocks GROOVES REVEAL THEIR ICY ORIGINS Sandstone gives up its secrets KABOOM – THE MOON! How we got our moon – read all about it A HOLE LOT OF GEOLOGY The holes beneath our feet THE STORY OF SICCAR POINT...
Rockstars 2021 Winners and Entrants Announced
Rockwatch is delighted to launch a showcase of this year’s Rockstars 2021 Competition Winners and Entries in a short movie. The range and standard of entries was incredibly high, giving judges a difficult job in choosing this year’s winners. As Rockwatch Chair, Susan Brown comments, “The Rockwatch competition continues to inspire many young geologists to produce a diverse range of projects, hopefully igniting a...
Live Talks, Workshops and Discussions at vFestival of Geology 2021
This year’s live talks, workshops and break out discussion rooms at the Virtual Festival of Geology 2021 are a fascinating mix of topics to appeal to any young geology enthusiast. The events are all taking place live on Saturday 6th November 2021 so make sure you put the day aside to immerse yourself in the full programme of events. Live Talks The lectures all feature a live Q & A with the speaker afterwards...
Join Us for Some Wonderful Geology Walks this Sunday 7 November
As part of this year’s Virtual Festival of Geology, the GA will run 3 Urban walks in the London area and we’d love you to join us. All 3 walks begin at 11am and will be half-day trips on Sunday 7th November 2021. Tickets cost £5 per person and booking is essential so hurry to book your places! If you can’t join us on these walks, the same link will take you to Walks around the Country that are being organised by our Local Groups and...
Tickets are now available for the FREE vFestival of Geology 2021
Please book to join Rockwatch at the vFestival of Geology 2021 on Saturday 6th November. Tickets are completely FREE! Just head on over to the Eventbrite site and choose which tickets you’d like entry into: various breakout discussion rooms a number of live talks the Discovery Room Activities including Rockwatch’s Passport Challenge!...
Michele’s Calcite Crystals from Lulworth Cove
This week’s fabulous find was discovered by young geology enthusiast Michele from iconic Lulworth Cove in Dorset on the Jurassic Coastline. Sending in details about her specimen for further investigation, Michele wondered if her rock might be fossilised wood, grass or plant matter. Rockwatch Ambassador Michael explains that clues to its form lie in its fibrous appearance as well as its location. Resembling the fibrous texture of beef,...
Save the date for vFOG 2021!
Save the date and join us on 6th and 7th November for this year’s Virtual Festival of Geology which will take place online at www.festivalofgeology.org.uk. The event will be a totally Free Virtual Geology Experience for all the family where you can: Sit in on live talks and go shopping at the virtual stalls. Explore virtual exhibitions from museums and local groups. Get involved in the interactive Discovery Room and take part in...
Lana’s Nodule of Marcasite
On a recent walk in Dorset, Lana stumbled across an unusually hard and heavier than normal stone and wanted to find out more about it. Sometimes mistakenly thought to be meteorites, Rockwatch Ambassador Mick is confident that Lana has found a nodule of marcasite. Evidently typical to the Child Okeford area of Dorset thanks to its chalk deposition, Lana’s specimen of marcasite is formed of characteristic rounded bumps and if it was...
Katie’s Belemnite Bullet
Often found digging in the gravel at home, Rockwatcher Katie has discovered that her fabulous find is a Belemnite, a bullet-shaped part of an extinct squid that thrived in our ancient seas. Rockwatch Ambassador, Michael, confirms that Katie’s fossil, “is a piece of fairly large Jurassic Belemnite”. So, what’s a Belemnite? Belemnites were an extinct marine animal that looked very like a modern-day squid except that they also had an...
Spacescapes: Postcards from our Solar System
Rockwatchers there’s a free outdoor planetary science exhibition taking place this Saturday 2 October between 12pm-3pm at the Geological Society’s HQ at Burlington House Courtyard, Piccadilly, London. The exhibition, called Spacescapes: Postcards from our Solar System, explores the mysteries of space and why geologists make such great space explorers. Why not pop along and discover some of these mysteries for...
Your Rockstar Competition Entries are In!
Thanks for sending in your wonderful Rockstar competition entries. Many of you have clearly been very busy over the school holidays and once again have impressed us with your knowledge, creativity and imagination. We’re busy judging entries at the moment and will be announcing winners...
Solving the Mystery of Piotr’s Crystal Rock from Herne Bay
Rockwatcher Piotr was intrigued to learn more about the mixed-looking rock he found at Herne Bay East Cliff Beach in Kent, England. Describing the rock itself as ‘unusual’ and the location of the find as a bit of a ‘mystery’, Rockwatch Ambassador, Michael pieces together a number of clues to help identify the rock and its possible origins to help solve the mystery. Michael’s approach to identifying Piortr’s rock is rather like a...
Ancient sea predator had giant head
It’s not every day that scientists are lucky enough to discover a brand new species let alone new genus – or category of living things which share common characteristics. So when they do, there’s understandably a bit of a buzz around the story. Science writer, Rachel Fritts reports that findings of a brand new ancient sea predator have been unveiled with a massive head which would have ruled the bottom of the oceans...
Miriam’s Fascinating Flint Finds
Rockwatcher Miriam’s two flint fragment finds are the focus of the latest Fabulous Find feature. The first fragment, found in Bedford near Pavenham looks rather like fossilised fish scales, but Rockwatch Ambassador Michael has different ideas based on his knowledge of the geology of Bedfordshire. The area is north of an area called the Chalk Scarp where an abundance of flint is typically formed from chalk, accounting for its lightness...