Joshua’s Sea Snail on the Sea Shore
Fossil finder Joshua found this wonderful shell on a recent trip to the Barton Beds at Barton on Sea, in the south of England and sent in his find for identification. It turns out that the Barton Beds – as they are known – are home to more than 600 species of shells! Fossil hunters flock to the Barton Beds because it’s known to be a rich source of Gastopods, molluscs and sharks’ teeth so visitors are likely to go home with a fossil...
Could Ben have Discovered a New Carboniferous Crustacean Species?
On a recent family field trip to Berwick-Upon-Tweed in Northumberland, Rockwatcher Ben unearthed not one but two fossil finds from the same boulder. The first of these, probably a tooth, is fairly typical of the kind of fossil found on Northumberland’s beaches. With the geology of Berwick-Upon-Tweed being formed of Carboniferous rocks mostly comprised of sandstone and limestone, this area is known for brachiopods, crinoids, corals and...
Freya’s Dinosaur Bone Discovery at Compton Bay
Famed for its huge dinosaur footprints at low tide, Compton Beach on the Isle of Wight is something of a fossil hunter’s pilgrimage seeing thousands of amateur and professional geologists every year. So, it’s perhaps not surprising that Rockwatcher Freya, who was holidaying with her family, found a dinosaur bone fossil on her recent visit given that the Isle of Wight – or Dinosaur Island as it’s become affectionately known – is home...
Thomas’s Lancashire Limestone Finds
Have you ever noticed that things in the natural world often adopt other names because they look like something else? For instance, the dramatic flame-filled Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan is also known as the ‘Doors to Hell’, because this huge gas-filled crater is constantly burning and looks like many through history have depicted the entrance to Hell. These alternative names can help us to understand more about physical...
Aria’s Litter Picking Leads to First Fossil Find and now she’s Hooked
Getting the fossil hunting bug can happen quite by chance as Aria discovered. Earlier this year, Aria was out being a litter picking hero in her local community of Haddenham in Buckinghamshire when she came across a fossil. Being curious about her first fossil find, Aria got in touch with Rockwatch to find out more about it and we’re thrilled that this led to her joining Rockwatch and exploring her newfound interest in geology...
A Dry Stone Waller’s Perk of the Job – Finding Fossils
Sometimes finding fossils can be a perk of the job. As a professional dry stone waller you work with different types of natural stone to shape them to fit together to create walls. It’s a very old tradition which dates back several millennia and it’s a profession that is on the rise again. By shaping rocks, the chances of finding fossils are pretty high, depending on where the rocks come from. Otis’s fossil was found this way by his...