Fossil hunting
You won’t dig up a T. rex in Britain. But dinosaur bones and footprints do turn up here, and the beach is full of other fossils.
Where to look
On the Isle of Wight, dinosaur bones and footprints can be seen in the rocks around the beaches, especially at Yaverland and Compton Bay. [source] Dinosaur Isle, in Sandown, is a purpose-built dinosaur museum. Its building is shaped like a giant pterosaur. [source]
A trace fossil is a record of what an animal did, not the animal itself: footprints, burrows and feeding marks all count. [source] Specimens are sometimes counted as fossils if they’re more than 10,000 years old. [source]
The beach code
- Check the tide before you go, and keep an eye on it. It’s easy to get cut off.
- Stay away from the bottom of cliffs. Rock falls happen, and don’t climb or dig into cliffs.
- Look on the beach itself, in loose rock that’s already fallen.
- Wear goggles if you’re splitting rocks.
- Take only a few small finds, and leave the rest for the next person.
- Some places have their own collecting rules, and nature reserves may not allow collecting at all. Check before you go.
- Found something big or unusual? Note where, photograph it, and tell a local museum.
The kit
These links go to Amazon UK. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you extra.
- A geological hammer (for loose rocks on the beach, not cliffs): find on Amazon UK
- Safety goggles, worn whenever you hit a rock: find on Amazon UK
- A hand lens: find on Amazon UK
- A soft brush for cleaning finds: find on Amazon UK
- Small boxes and tissue for wrapping finds: find on Amazon UK
- A field guide to British fossils: find on Amazon UK
- A tide table book for your stretch of coast: find on Amazon UK
- A waterproof notebook: find on Amazon UK
Then find out what lived when in Deep time.