Author: Terry
Gilwern Quarry, Powys
On Sunday 3rd November, we re-visited Gilwern Quarry, Powys, to hunt for trilobites and other Ordovician goodies!
Gilwern quarry is privately-owned and is situated on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, in beautiful and isolated moorland. Gilwern is famous for its trilobites, which are generally very well preserved, and can be found in abundance. Gilwern Hill is made of Lower to Middle Ordovician volcaniclastic rock, which form part of the Builth Inlier. The site has rocks from the Llanvirn series (approximately 460 million years old) and exhibits the following beds:
· Upper Didymographus murchisoni Shales
· Pale flinty, tuffaceous beds
· Main Rhyolitic tuffs, with Lower Didymographus murchisoni Shales
· Rhyolitic tuffs and agglomerates
· Upper Didymographus bifidus Beds
· Lower Didymographus bifidus Beds
The site has been interpreted as a near-shore, shallow water environment, which due to the number and range of ages of Ogyginus found here, was identified as a breeding ground for the Ogyginus trilobite.
A small group of us were met by the landowner, Emma, at the on-site shepherd’s hut. Emma gave us her amazing warm welcome, with hot teas and coffees at the ready! For those of us who had travelled far, this was most welcome!
We were very lucky with the weather, as the previous week had seen torrential downpours, with part of the quarry under several feet of water. Despite this, we found a great selection of whole and partial Ogyginus and Bettonolithus trilobites.
We would like to thank all for attending – we hope you had a fantastic day! A special thank you goes to Emma for her fabulous hospitality!
Access to the quarry and rental of the self-catering shepherd’s hut can be requested via https://www.uppergilwernquarryhut.co.uk
For further information on Gilwern fossils, please refer to https://www.asoldasthehills.org/oath_homepage.html
Whitehaven, 9th June 2019
On 9th June we descended on Whitehaven beach to chance our arm at finding some fossils.
The foreshore and cliffs at Whitehaven are famed for their Silesian (Upper Carboniferous) plant remains. Many of the plant fossils that can be obtained here are of exceptional preservation and whilst the section in the cliff provides good collecting opportunities, the section of foreshore beneath exposes beds of Bolsovian age (311.7–306.5 Mya) from the Westphalian Stage and generally consists of far better fossil material.
Fossil plants found here represent a time when plant life flourished and forests were populated by giant cycad trees and ferns. A substantial river once flowed to the southwest through this environment and the Countess Sandstone, provides us with evidence of this.
There are some 30 recorded species of plant remains found at Whitehaven. The foreshore is full of fossil roots in between layers of plant material. The most common plants include Annularia, Neuropteris and Asterophyllites, and many of these can be found in their original life positions, which makes this location extremely important.
A selection of finds is shown below. We had a lovely group, some fantastic fossils found and an excellent day in the sunshine! Thank you to everyone who attended!
Cayton Bay, North Yorkshire, 5th May 2019
On Sunday 5th May we met at Cayton Bay beach car park and made our way down the steep slope to the beach to see what this area could offer us!
The rocks at Cayton Bay are from the Callovian of the Jurassic and are 166 million years old. They contain bivalves such as Gryphaea, in addition to ammonites, belemnites, gastropods and occasionally, shrimps.
There was a short briefing on the beach and a look at a selection of fossils that we might find, and then we starting searching.
A selection of finds is below. Thanks to everyone who attended – we hope you enjoyed your day!
Runswick Bay, 3rd May 2019
On Saturday 3rd May 2019 we met in Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire.
Runswick Bay is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the bedrock and cliffs are protected by law from the use of hammers, although we were free to hammer at loose material on the beach. We stayed away from the cliffs and looked for fossils on the foreshore.
The early Jurassic here is represented by Pleinsbachian age rocks (190-‐195 Ma) from the Early Lias and Toarcian age (180-190 Ma) from the Late Lias. This Lower Jurassic site is in the Upper Lias of the Whitby Mudstone Formation, consisting of deposits of the Grey Shale Member, the Mulgrave Shale Member and the Alum Shale Member. The Lower Lias consists of the Cleveland Ironstone Formation, whose deposits consist of the Penny Nab Member and the Kettleness Member.
After a short briefing on health and safety and the likely fossils we could find, we made our way down to the beach to begin the hunt.
The fossil Gods were with Peter today as he found a bumper crop of fabulous ammonites!
Thank you to all who came. We hope you enjoyed the day and went home with some great finds!
Wren’s Nest, Sunday 3rd March 2019
On Sunday 3rd March 2019 we paid a return visit to Wren’s Nest, Dudley, Midlands. We had a great turnout for the day with 25 people in attendance, of all ages.
Wren’s Nest is a former Victorian Quarry, which provided building material and material for production of flux in the iron for industries in the Black Country. 20,000 tonnes of limestone was quarried annually until the quarry operations ceased in the 1920s, when it was abandoned. The “Nest” was England’s first National Nature Reserve (NNR) in 1953 and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to the geology and fossils that can be found here. Wren’s Nest is famous for the Calymene blumenbachii trilobite, known as the Dudley Bug, and featured on the Dudley County Borough Council Coat of Arms until 1974. The site, however, is known for a wide variety of fossils, including trilobites, gastropods, brachiopods, corals and crinoids. In fact, over 700 different species of fossils can be found here, over 80 of which can be found nowhere else on earth. Wren’s Nest contains the most diverse and abundant fossil fauna found in the British Isles and the fossils are among the most perfectly preserved Silurian fossils in the world.
The site is composed of limestone from the Silurian Wenlock Group, which was deposited around 425 million years ago, when the area would have been a warm, shallow, tropical sea.
The SSSI designation means that the site is protected under UK law , and the Warden at Dudley Council was made aware of our visit as they are required to monitor the numbers of visitors and to protect the site from malicious damage. No tools are allowed on site so our hammers stayed safely at home this time! Unfortunately, several people have been caught in the past removing large amounts of material from the site, which is prohibited. Warnings aside, Wren’s Nest is still a fantastic place for fossil hunting as there is plenty of loose material on the ground in which to find fossils.
We had an initial briefing on the fossil code of conduct and health and safety, before passing around examples of the various kinds of that we could expect to find. The first few hours of hunting were spent at the reef mounds, before moving onto the fossil trench, from where we had a lovely view of the ripple beds.
UKAFH members found lots of fabulous fossils, including a bumper crop of trilobite cephalons (heads) and pydigiums (tails)!
Thank you to everyone who braved the persistent drizzle to come along! We hope you all had a great day with lots of fabulous finds!
A map of Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve and the fossil collecting code can be found here, courtesy of the Black Country Geological Society:
http://bcgs.info/pub/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/wrens_nest_geology_map.pdf
UKAFH visit to Salthill Quarry, Clitheroe, 1st September 2018
On Saturday 1st September we ran a fossil hunt at Salthill Quarry, Clitheroe, Lancashire.
Salthill is a former limestone quarry, which ceased working in 1959 and is now a Local Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest due to its geological features and wildlife. Salthill is famous for its crinoids and is one of the best sites for Lower Carboniferous echinoderms in Northern Europe.
The reserve is also known for its wildflowers, insects and birds and a variety of curious-sounding species can be found including cowslips, birds-foot trefoil, lady’s bedstraw, bee orchid, blackcap, willow warbler, garden warbler and chiffchaff.
Although they resemble plants and are often called “Sea Lillies”, crinoids are actually marine animals of the phylum Echinodermata, a group of animals that include starfish and echinoids. The name comes from the Greek word krinon, “a lily”, and eidos, “form”. Some species of crinoids are alive now and they can live in both shallow and deep waters.
Crinoids attached themselves to the seafloor by way of a holdfast, and at the top of the vertical stem would sit the calyx, which housed the gut, mouth and anus. From the calyx led the arms and cilia, which would gather food and pass it down the arms to the mouth.
Some crinoids would be free-floating in the water column and some were capable of “walking” across the sea floor.
We had a lovely mixed group of adults and children, who crowded around the “crinoid seat” – a bench made of crinoidal limestone with a sculptured crinoid back – where Andrew gave us a rousing talk on the site, crinoid structure and morphology, and how to identify them. It went something like this:
- Make a starfish out of your hand
- Put your elbow on top of your hand and put your arm upright
- Splay your fingers
- Wave your arm around in the air
- Now you have a crinoid!
Andrew also reminded us that shark’s teeth could be found in the area, but any teeth found were effectively his property as he mistakenly discarded one many years before.
Then we were off!
The whole exposure was jam-packed with partial crinoid columnals but with some careful looking through the soil we started to find more interesting fossils. Soon enough we found some large diameter columnals and we were very lucky to find quite so many crinoid calyces.
The award for bulk find of the day goes to Darren Simons, who found no less than 19 calyces!
Mike Greaves found this embedded rarer blastoid. This unfortunately had to stay behind as we are not allowed to collect from the bedrock (SSSI rules):
A massive thank you to everyone who attended this hunt. We hope that you enjoyed it and we will see you again!
Salthill LNR is managed by Lancashire Wildlife Trust and is open entry | Hammering of the rock face is not permitted | Please collect responsibly and abide by the fossil code
http://data.wildlifetrusts.org/sites/default/files/GEOLOGY%20INFO%20-%20Website.pdf
Gilwern Quarry, Powys – Saturday 26th July 2018
On Saturday 28th July, we landed at Gilwern Quarry, Powys, for the annual UKAFH trilobite fest!
Gilwern quarry is privately-owned and is situated on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, in beautiful and isolated terrain. Gilwern is known for its trilobites, which are generally very well preserved, and can be found in abundance. Gilwern Hill is made of Lower to Middle Ordovician volcaniclastic rock, which form part of the Builth Inlier. The site has rocks from the Llanvirn series (approximately 460 million years old) and exhibits the following beds:
- Upper Didymographus murchisoni Shales.
- Pale flinty, tuffaceous beds.
- Main Rhyolitic tuffs, with Lower Didymographus murchisoni Shales.
- Rhyolitic tuffs and agglomerates.
- Upper Didymographus bifidus Beds.
- Lower Didymographus bifidus Beds
The site has been interpreted as a near-shore, shallow water environment used as a breeding ground for the Ogyginus trilobite (pictured above), due to the number and range of ages of Ogyginus found here. However, other trilobite species such as Meadowtownella and Bettonolithus can be found, as well as graptolites.
Emma, the lovely landowner, greeted us at the shepherd’s hut as we arrived with hot teas and coffees, which was a lovely surprise, and was very welcome after the long journey that many of us had made. First stop of the day was the “trilobite wall” – a stack of fossiliferous rocks lining the shepherd’s hut car park – you know it’ll be a good day when you find your first fossils in the car park!
Once we were suitably refreshed and kitted up, Sam and Aidan gave an introductory session on the quarry and showed the group some example fossils from previous hunts, including various species of trilobites, graptolites, orthocones and conulariids. We then moved up to the main quarry, where the good finds started rolling in!
Lingulella brachiopods:
Bettonolithus trilobites:
The quarry is packed full of loose rock so there was plenty of material for us to chisel and hammer our way through.
Although the weather looked promising on arrival, after several hours it had clouded over and distant rumbles of thunder could be heard. Unfortunately, this then developed into torrential rain and hailstones (in July!), which felt like being stoned to death with frozen peas! A mad dash to the safety of our cars was in order and with it, an unfortunately abrupt end to the hunt!
We would like to thank all for attending – we hope you had a fantastic day! A special thank you goes to Emma for her fabulous hospitality and we look forward to the next hunt!
Access to the quarry and rental of the self-catering shepherd’s hut can be requested via https://www.uppergilwernquarryhut.co.uk.
For further information on Gilwern fossils, please refer to https://www.asoldasthehills.org/oath_homepage.html
Wrens Nest, May 2018
We had the pleasure of returning to a very pleasant and dry Wrens’ Nest in Dudley on the 12th May 2018 to hunt for the elusive “Dudley bug”.
Wren’s Nest is composed of limestone from the Silurian Wenlock Group and is famous for the Phacopid trilobite Calymene blumenbachii, which featured on the Dudley County Borough Council Coat of Arms until 1974.
A former Victorian Quarry, which ceased operation in the 1920s, Wren’s Nest is now a National Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the fossils that can be found here. And what a site it is!
It is a fantastic site for fossil hunting as so many fossils can be found loose on the ground. Over 700 different species of fossils can be found here, over 80 of which can be found nowhere else on earth.
Wren’s Nest contains the most diverse and abundant fossil fauna found in the British Isles and the fossils are among the most perfectly preserved Silurian fossils in the world.
Many attendees were young, first time fossil hunters and looked fabulous in their new hi-vis! We had lots of families and newcomers, which was great.
We started the day with a potted history of the site and a “show and tell” of the types of fossil that could be found at the site. The first few hours of hunting were spent at the reef mounds, before moving onto the fossil trench, from where we had a lovely view of the ripple beds.
The group found some marvellous partial trilobites (heads and tails – shown above and below), gastropods, brachiopods, bryozoans, corals and sponges – a fabulous slice of a Silurian reef ecosystem.
To all that attended, we hope that you enjoyed your day, and to the first-time hunters, we hope that we have inspired you to begin a wonderful new hobby!
Wren’s Nest, Dudley, 6th August 2017
On Sunday 6th August, we returned to Wren’s Nest to collect ourselves a small slice of the Silurian. The site is a former Victorian limestone quarry that closed in the 1920s and is now a National Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to the fossils that can be found here.
Wren’s Nest is home of the “Dudley bug”, the trilobite Calymene blumenbachii, but is also home to over 700 different fossils, 80 of which have only been found at this site. Because of its designation as a SSSI, we weren’t allowed to take any tools on site, and had to get permission to visit from the warden at Dudley Council. When we arrived, there was a police helicopter circling overhead that we thought might be the warden keeping tabs on us!
The day started sunny and bright with a great talk by leader Aidan on the history of the site and the fossils that could be found here. We began our hunt on and around the reef mounds and after a few hours, moved to the fossil trench, from where we had a great view of the ripple beds.
We found a great selection of fossils; many brachiopods, sponges, corals and some gastropods. Although not particularly easy to find, partial trilobites were popping out all over the place, with some great finds by Vita Murray, George Vidler and leader Sam Caethoven. In fact, Sam was the only member of the group to find a trilobite hypostome – the hard mouth part found on the underside of the head. This was an excellent find!
We hope everyone enjoyed the day and we hope to see you soon at another hunt!
Further information on the geology and fossils that can be found at this site can be found on the Dudley Council website:
Salthill Quarry, Clitheroe, 16th July 2017
Sunday 16th July saw a UKAFH hunt to Salthill Quarry Local Nature Reserve, Clitheroe, Lancashire. Salthill is a former limestone quarry and is known not only for its important geological formations but also the rare wildlife that can be found here. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and because of this no hammers were allowed on site, but fossils here could be found loose in the spoil, so all that was needed a was a keen eye!
The rocks at Salthill formed during the Carboniferous period in a shallow, warm tropical sea, like today’s Caribbean, and are packed with crinoid fossils. The site even includes a bench made with panels of carved crinoids.
The day started with a great animated talk from UKAFH leader, Andrew Eaves, on the types of fossils that could be found at the site, before everyone got stuck in and it was all eyes to the ground! It wasn’t difficult – crinoids were abundant and crunched underfoot in places. No members went home empty-handed! Many crinoid columnals were found, along with isolated ossicles and less-commonly, crinoid thecae. Andrew pointed out the rarer blastoids in situ.
Despite mother nature threatening us with a potential downpour, the day turned out sunny and fine. The exposure of interest was contained in a small area on a gentle grassy slope, so there was plenty of opportunity to sit back and enjoy the warm sunshine.
Thanks to everyone who joined us on the day. We hope you enjoyed it!
