The West Midlands is made up of parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. While there are very few locations for fossils that can be visited, it is home to one of the most productive and most important sites in the UK – the Wren’s Nest. The area was formerly quarried and mined for two thick layers of pure limestone. Quarrying and lime working ceased at the site in 1925 and the site was abandoned. A special limestone fauna and flora has also established itself at the site in the subsequent years. This includes many species of plants, invertebrates and several species of bat that over-winter in the caverns
Situated on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, this quarry is popular with schools. These are able to visit and collect fossils from a designated area, where the quarry regularly dumps fresh material on a spoil heap. Rich in echinoids and now an SSSI, this is a site definitely worth visiting, if permission can be obtained. Jurassic, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve is an area of nature reserve to the northeast of Dudley in the West Midlands. It was designated as a National Nature Reserve in 1956 because of its exceptional geological and paleontological features of Silurian age. It is also a SSSI. Silurian, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦