UK FOSSILS LIVE IN WATCHET, SOMERSET
10th - 15th October 2004
Updated: Friday @ 22:30

INTRODUCTION


(Base Camp, Warren bay, just outside Watchet)

Welcome to UK Fossils live in Somerset 2004. We plan to visit a few new locations to expand into forthcoming new locations on the UK Fossils website as well as revisit and rephotograph some old time favorites.

Our first new location for the week turned out to be quite poor, nevertheless, a few worn corals was found. The Devonian rocks of Triscombe Quarry (disused), situated in the Quantox Hills has in the past yielded a range of corals.

The afternoon trips was in search of any recently ploughed fields around Ilminster, this unfortunately also resulted in no luck as all the fields had been recently planted or waiting to be ploughed. Ilminster is well known for the Jurassic Junction Bed which yields a wide range of ammonites which can simply be picked up off the fields. Locals crowd the fields when they are ploughed for the highly rich ammonite fauna. A trip along the old disused railway line was also made to search for any outcrops, but sadly these outcrops are now totally overgrown.

A re-visit to Quantoxhead was made in what is usually a very productive area. Unfortunately, UKF made little finds, just a large piece of crinoid stem and a large shell. Images will follow shortly. The reptile bed was well exposed on the foreshore with little silt and sand, however there just wasn't any bones showing. There has also been no cliff falls for sometime.

We did however take the opportunity to examine the superb faults and geological features along the coastline here, the photo below shows the strata which appears to take a u-turn. This has been caused by the beds dipping to the left hand side of the photo. The limestone between the layers of shale can be clearly seen at different levels from the foreshore and cliff but are of the same zone. Where erosion has removed the beds in between the 'U'-shape through the result of falling, it has preserved the beds on the foreshore.

After the first poor couple of days in Somerset we needed a location that could guarantee some superb finds. Of course that location was Radstock after the huge success of our 2002 trip. Once again, this disused quarry is full of excellent specimens. We also have taken several very large samples back for splitting, the plant beds at Radstock are packed full with remains with over a hundred different species to be collected. These samples will be taken back to our UKF laboratory for analysis and because of their size, has good potential of some superb specimens. In spite of the good finds made, we did plan to visit several other quarries around Radstock, but unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worst and torrential rain made it impossible to collected as the specimens would simply break apart.

Our major new forthcoming edition to the UK Fossils Network is the area of Portishead. The geology of this area is very interesting and contains rocks from the Triassic, Devonian and Carboniferous. Whilst corals, crinoids, trilobites and shells can be collected from the Carboniferous, fish remains can be found from the Devonian Rocks.

Our starting point is at Battery Point, there is a car park near the swimming pool and you can walk to the rocks at Battery point, Woodhill bay and Kilkenny Bay. As you immediately enter the foreshore, there are plenty of rocks to look through, these contain many shells, crinoids, corals and if you are lucky trilobites. We managed to find some Crinoids, Corals and Shells but unfortunately found no trilobites which are much more rare.

Crinoid Stem


Coral

From here, you can walk further around Woodhill Bay, here the Carboniferous beds can be seen in a second small cliff with corals which can be collected.

Coral

Further around Woodhill Bay, the next cliff is the highest in this area and the uppermost part is Triassic whilst the lower beds are Devonian. The fish remains can be found in the Finely laminated red and dark brown coloured layers, the fish remains are either white or grey depending on the zone. It may take time to find this zone but there are plenty of rocks on the beach to look through and split.

Fish Scale


Fish Scale

Finally from here, Kilkenny bay starts where the White coloured sandstone begins, this continues around Kilkenny and is carboniferous. Corals can be found further around this bay.

Another new forthcoming edition on UK Fossils to expand our 'Avon' section. Today we examine the Lower Carboniferous Volcanic Rocks around Middle Hope. This site is actually an SSSI and the restrictions mean that we could not take any hammers or any other geological tools since both hammers and hammering are banned. Restrictions are also in place banning the collection of fossils or rocks off the beach. Our reason for this visit was to photograph the fossils in situ and examine the fascinating geology around this area. All fossils shown in the photos have been left undeserved for others to enjoy.

The Pillow Lavas (from an underwater volcano) are exposed on the foreshore at Swallow Cliff. The Volcanic Ash preserved the fossils in these rocks and covered all life forms, these thick and dense beds can be seen around Swallow Cliff and Middle Hope.

There are plenty of fossils to be seen, many species of corals, brachiopods, crinoid stems, worms and algae. Some examples of these can be found below. Some of the corals at Weston-Super-Mare can be very large in size. The rocks here are extremely hard which is why hammering at this site has been banned, this would simply damage the fossils and destroy them for others to see and admire.

Michelinia (Colonial Corals)

Zaphrentis (Soitary Corals)

Zaphrentis (Soitary Corals)

Crinoid Stem

Zaphrentis (Soitary Corals)

Zaphrentis (Soitary Corals)

Brachiopod

Our final day examines the blue lias of Hinkley Point & Lilstock. This area is famous for its reptile remains and what a surprise to make such a brilliant find (more about that later). First of all we would like to thank the staff at 'Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station' for all their help in allowing us to visit this site by using their car park and their help in extending the closing time when the security gates are closed, whilst we excavated this find. It is important to note that whilst our access point was via the power station, access via the visitor centre (and car park to the shore) will be closed due to a tightening of security in November. Access can be made in future via Lilstock village or by parking in laybys near to the power station.A footpath takes you directly onto the shore.

At hinkley point, the cliffs are often washed out with the reptile beds exposed. The reptile bed is below the thick limestone layer shown in the photo above. However their are other reptile beds along this coastline at different zones.

Our first find which we left on the beach for others to view was this large shell, smaller ones have been taken back for the UKF Collection, but this particular find was extremely large.

Further along the coast, we saw three ichthyosaurus Vertebras together in the cliff face, whilst we managed to successfully excavated one complete vertebra, the others were badly damaged by the sea. A forth was also found further along, also damaged by the sea. A rib was additionally found near the same spot. This could indicate that a possible skeleton could be in the same approx. 1m area. However attempting to find other remains would probably result in damaging any other finds. It was therefore decided to leave any other remaining bones to be naturally eroded although it is quite possible that other bones from the same animal have already been lost to the sea.

Further along the coast, exposed on the foreshore was a partial skeleton which had also been damaged by the sea, We believe that all the vertebrae had been washed away, but the jaw, teeth, ribs, Pelvis, and Paddle bones are all in tacked (other bones may be present but are currently hidden in blocks of clay. The race against the tide and time limits to get back before the security gates closed this meant that we needed to excavate this find as carefully but quickly as possible. This was done by ensuring that as much as the skeleton as possible stayed in individual slabs protected in the clay ready for preparation. A total of six large slabs with the bones in situ was taken from the site along with individual bones and partial bones damaged by the sea in the same area.

The following photographs show the original bones in situ, the rest of the partial skeleton is hidden under the clay or missing by sea erosion. This will require many days of preparation and preservation, so these photos of the individual bones cannot be displayed until this work has been completed. Our main aim has been to carefully preserve the remaining bones of the ichthyosaurus skeleton as much as possible ready for preparation at our UKF laboratory. As far as we are aware we have managed to save as many bones as remained in situ.

Photo showing part of the skeleton in situ

Photo showing rib bones in situ

Photo showing jaw exposed on the foreshore

"Eating With Dinosaurs" - the remaining three out of six slabs ready to to be wrapped and preserved carefully which nautrally take preferential placement on our dining table before the 7 hour journey back to our labs.

We also took a trip to Lilstock to examine more Blue Lias further along the coast, we managed to also find an Ichthyosaurus Phalange bone in a similar reptile bed, just to add to this extremely successful day!