LIVE FROM CHARMOUTH, DORSET - 5th to the 11th of October
Last update: 11th, October 2002

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the second edition of UK Fossils LIVE. We are in Charmouth, Dorset for the 100 year high tides. These events will be published on a day to day basis on this page, (probably updated every evening down the pub)

DAY 1 (5th October): Charmouth Trip

A visit to both Black Ven and Stonebarrow was made on the arrival day of Dorset. It was a busy weekend and unfortunately very little was found.

DAY 2 (6th October): Seaton, Devon

A trip to visit the Upper Greensand of Seaton and lower chalk was made, A number of excellent shells was found along with a sea urchin and spine. Seaton is a new location which will be added on UK Fossils during the months ahead.

DAY 3 (7th October): Sea Town & Charmouth

Today a re-visit to Sea Town was made. Past trips have been extremely successful. A small nautilus and a number of small ammonites was collected along with a large pectin. However there has been no major cliff falls since the last visit in 2001 which has limited collecting.

A second visit to Charmouth, Black Ven was made. A distorted ammonite (Approx 12cm wide) was collected and a number of other ammonites. Beach conditions both at Sea Town and Charmouth and very poor with a vast amount of sand, silt and pebbles.

DAY 4 (8th October): Burton Bradstock

A return visit to one of our most favorite locations in Dorset. There has been no new cliff falls since our last visit in 2001. However this has been our best trip yet with some excellent finds. By splitting existing rocks on the beach, digging in the fallen soil and bringing down Oolite from the top of the fall we also found the most fossils in any one trip.

Finds include many species of ammonite, two approx. 5.5 Inches (Parkinsonia Sp). Several Shirbuirnia stephani, one 4.5 Inches, A Nautilus (which presently appears to be complete, but further cleaning will be required to be absolutely certain), approx size is 5 Inches. Also found was a Sea Urchin, Shark Spine, and many shells.

As we have a large number of finds in need of further splitting and cleaning.

DAY 5 (9th October): Charmouth, Chippel Bay to Pinhay Bay

Overnight and morning high tides smashed the cliffs at our base camp, Stonebarrow. This prompted a change in schedule and a trip down to the Charmouth Cliffs. After one and a half hours of waiting from one hour after high, we eventually managed to gain access from a landslip at the top of Stone Barrow. However very little was found, after speaking to several locals we discovered that they too had not found anything, the beach was built up too high.

In the afternoon a trip to Chippel Bay to Pinhay Bay took place in search of the shale fish bed from the successful trip of 1995. The bed could not be located, a Micraster was found in the Chalk at Pinhay Bay and a few shells, but once again this has generally been disappointing.

DAY 6 (10th October): Durlston Bay

A new previously unvisited location by UK Fossils, Durlston Bay in search of the mammal beds was made. Officially there is no access down to the beach as the sea hits both headlands and the former path to the beach has been closed due to a major landslide. However access can be made down the landslide which is fine unless any recent rainfall. The signs indicate that the landslip is 'Active' so we would recommend anyone wishing to visit this area to wait until the official footpath has been restored.

We did locate the mammal bed which is a black shale bed between two hard layers roughly in the middle of Durlston Bay. Finds included many fish remains, crocodile and possible turtle fragments and a number of other 'yet to be identified' bones. Shells too were collected.

We took back a large number of samples, four large bags full, these will be wet sieved at a later date, the bones are very fragile but the bed is rich with remains. It has been an exciting day, but it will be sometime before we find the true success of this trip.

DAY 7 (11th October): Bowleaze Cove

On the final day of our 7 day trip it was decided to return to Bowleaze Cove to venture further round Redcliff Point which was not possible during the previous trip due to tidal conditions.

A few poorly preserved ammonites were found in the Corallian Beds and a few shells. At Redcliff point, the upper Oxford Clay is currently being washed out, well exposed on the foreshore and beyond. Many excellent large Oysters were collected including Gryphaea dilatata and Lopha, some of the biggest we have ever collected. A range of shells from the Oxford Clay also found.