Fossil hunting on the Jurassic coast

 Tuesday 11/05/21

One of the best places for an amateur fossil hunter (and we are both abundantly qualified as amateurs) to look for fossil remains in the shoreline between Charmouth and Lyme Regis.  Thus our challenge for the day was set!

First, however, we had the small matter of a swim booking to contend with so, at the appropriate time we headed off to the indoor pool area.  At the last moment we realised we had forgotten to bring our masks so Toni dashed back to Bokkie to get them and we booked in.  There were four other swimmers already doing laps by the time we got in but there was luckily enough space for us all to exercise without any collisions.  The water was the perfect temperature for swimming laps so we had half an hour or so of swimming, which was lovely.  So nice, in fact, that we have booked another session for tomorrow!

I have either spotted something or the rucksack is too heavy.

We knew there was rain forecast this afternoon so we set off down to Charmouth and luckily timed our arrival to coincide with low tide, the best time for fossils.  I  also proved that an amateur with very little idea of what to look for could find something noteworthy (in our book, anyway) and found remnants of ammonites, although I suspect what I found are the imprints of the ancient mollusc shells and not the actual remains themselves. 

The rocks all start to look prehistoric eventually.

The first find, it looks huge but is only about 2 inches long.

The fossil-rich cliffs being eaten away by the sea.

No, we weren't THAT lucky, these are some examples
from the shop on the beach of what can be found.

Our haul for the day, some pretty pebbles and two fossil remains.

This area is rich in fossils with many fantastic discoveries having been made over the years and they are gradually exposed as the sea erodes the cliffs containing the remains.  The sea then washes the stones and fossils up on the beach and, if you are lucky enough, you may spot some.  The rocks in the area are also very interesting and we were hard-pressed not to fill Bokkie's lockers with pretty stones and rocks.

A gorgeous rock Toni found, looks like someone stuck it together.

We made it back to Bokkie just in time to rescue our costumes and towels from the rain.  I suspect our shoulders might be a bit stiff tomorrow, we've not had much swimming recently.

It is now raining very heavily, with some hail thrown in to boot - definitely an indoors afternoon/evening, but it's been another great day!