(Please forgive the formatting, the new blogger interface has thrown me off course!)
We were in desperate need of a mini-break and were inspired to go down to Weymouth and Charmouth to do some fossil hunting. Lyme Regis is most famous for Mary Anning's icthyosaur discovery and has since attracted many people hoping to find their own fossil, or better yet, dinosaur fossil. Although we didn't find any icthyosaurs, we didn't come away empty handed.
Lyme Regis was a very pretty coastal town, even the streetlamps had a special touch, with ammonite inspired ironwork.
Dave asked me to pose with the geological hammer so I tried to make it look more exciting... You are supposed to tap the rock in a special way to reveal separate layers, but I didn't have the knack.
You could still spot fossils just by walking along the beach with a careful eye, though. This one was too big to take home.
We found our best fossils on the Stonebarrow site, on the second day. We had found some belemnite and crushed ammonite fossils at Black Ven the previous day, but were tempted into driving back to Charmouth the next day to explore Stonebarrow in the hopes of finding pyritic ammonites. This is an example of a crushed ammonite.
We also explored Portland Bill, famous for its stone. Dave tells me that it was so highly prized that the colour of concrete sought to imitate Portland Stone. Unfortunately in my opinion, it did too good a job, and doesn't look so appealing to the modern eye! Dave explored around the lighthouse.
There were some stunning views on our drive, including Abbotsbury Chapel and Chesil Beach. Back at home, we washed and laid out our treasures: pebbles and sea glass to the top left, belemnites to the bottom left, and assorted ammonites to the right. The shiny metallic ammonites are the pyritic fossils. We can definitely see the allure of fossil hunting as a hobby!
We were in desperate need of a mini-break and were inspired to go down to Weymouth and Charmouth to do some fossil hunting. Lyme Regis is most famous for Mary Anning's icthyosaur discovery and has since attracted many people hoping to find their own fossil, or better yet, dinosaur fossil. Although we didn't find any icthyosaurs, we didn't come away empty handed.
Lyme Regis was a very pretty coastal town, even the streetlamps had a special touch, with ammonite inspired ironwork.
Dave asked me to pose with the geological hammer so I tried to make it look more exciting... You are supposed to tap the rock in a special way to reveal separate layers, but I didn't have the knack.
You could still spot fossils just by walking along the beach with a careful eye, though. This one was too big to take home.
We found our best fossils on the Stonebarrow site, on the second day. We had found some belemnite and crushed ammonite fossils at Black Ven the previous day, but were tempted into driving back to Charmouth the next day to explore Stonebarrow in the hopes of finding pyritic ammonites. This is an example of a crushed ammonite.
We also explored Portland Bill, famous for its stone. Dave tells me that it was so highly prized that the colour of concrete sought to imitate Portland Stone. Unfortunately in my opinion, it did too good a job, and doesn't look so appealing to the modern eye! Dave explored around the lighthouse.
There were some stunning views on our drive, including Abbotsbury Chapel and Chesil Beach. Back at home, we washed and laid out our treasures: pebbles and sea glass to the top left, belemnites to the bottom left, and assorted ammonites to the right. The shiny metallic ammonites are the pyritic fossils. We can definitely see the allure of fossil hunting as a hobby!
