The small section of Corallian cliff at Pirates Cove, near Wyke Regis provides the collector with an abundant and varied fauna of gastropods and bivalves, as well as echinoids. With easy access, provided the tide is favourable, it is an ideal spot and not far from other sites.
DIRECTIONS
♦ The site is situated at the end of Pirates Lane in Wyke Regis. The lane is easily spotted with Wyke Castle next to the lane.
♦ Park in Westhill Road (a residential street) and walk down Pirates Lane to the beach. Please do not block peoples drives. The path can be steep in some places. Once you reach the foreshore, the exposure of Corallian rocks lies to the right (north).
♦ The parking area is at postcode: DT4 9GL. See Google Maps.
♦ What3Words location area: ///slower.trim.exile
PROFILE INFO
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Depending on recent rates of erosion, the fossils can be found loose on the foreshore beneath the low cliff.
CHILDREN: ♦♦♦♦ – The site is good for children under supervision. However, the sandy bay needs to be assessed, as it can become hazardously muddy in places. This is a sensitive area, so please make sure children do not risk disturbing the site.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦♦ – Access is easy, with parking very close to the access point at Pirates Lane, though the path down can be steep in places.
TYPE: – Fossils are found loose on the foreshore and can be picked up easily.
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FOSSIL HUNTING
At the point where Camp Road joins The Fleet, the Corallian Bencliffe Grit crops out, succeeded further south by the Osmington Oolite Formation, appearing as 12m-high cliffs. The rocks are softer than the same sequence displayed at the coast around Osmington Mills and the fossils ‘drop’ out of the rock, to be found beneath the cliff base. The trace fossil, Teichichnus (a burrowing bivalve), is well displayed and denotes the Upton Member. The Shortlake Member is a mixture of oolites, sands and clays, and, from this bed, gastropods, bivalves and echinoids can be found. The echinoid, Nucleolites scutatus, is common. The bivalves, Myophorella clavellata and Nanogyra nana, can also be found. The Sandsfoot Grit in the south-eastern section of cliff provides internal moulds of the bivalves, Pleuromya uniformis and Mactromya aceste.
Collecting fossils is always best on a low tide and will require getting on your hands and knees to carefully look on the beach beneath the cliffs.
GEOLOGY
Pirates Cove sits on the Portland/Weymouth coast where resistant Jurassic limestones form low cliffs, ledges, and boulder-strewn foreshore platforms. The bedrock here belongs to the Corallian succession and is represented by the Osmington Oolite Formation, a package of shallow-marine limestones and more sand-rich units laid down in warm seas on a carbonate shelf. In the landscape this geology produces hard, blocky cliff faces, rubbly slip material, and wave-cut benches that can be very uneven underfoot.
The Osmington Oolite at Pirates Cove can be thought of as a stack of distinct building-stone style beds, with the character changing as you move up through the sequence. At the base, the Bencliff Grit Member is typically the most sand-influenced unit. It tends to weather more roughly than the purer limestones above, often breaking into angular blocks and gritty fragments. Where exposed on the foreshore it can form tougher, rough-textured ledges and contributes to a more “gritty” look in the lowest parts of the section.
Above this, the Upton Member brings you back toward more limestone-dominated beds, but with a noticeably mixed feel compared with the cleanest oolites. In practical terms it often shows as beds that break into slabby pieces with occasional muddier partings, giving a stepped profile on the cliff and a tendency for thin layers to split along bedding planes. This member commonly sits between the clearly sandier base and the more uniform oolitic limestones higher up, so it can feel like a transitional interval in the field.
Higher again, the Shortlake Member is generally the most recognisably oolitic limestone part of the sequence: pale buff to cream tones when fresh, becoming honeyed as it weathers. It tends to form stronger, more continuous beds, which is why you often see pronounced ledges and block falls made up of squarer limestone pieces. On a wave-cut platform this kind of bed can create flat, grippy steps when dry, but becomes very slick when algae-covered.
Capping the sequence, the Nodular Rubble Member forms the top of the local succession and is usually the most obviously broken and rubbly unit. Rather than a few neat, thick beds, it commonly appears as more irregular, nodular limestone with a rubbly fabric, which naturally produces abundant loose blocks and a more chaotic cliff-top margin. This rubbly character often marks a change in how the cliff fails: instead of large, clean slabs, you can get more frequent smaller collapses and a talus of nodular pieces.
EQUIPMENT
Tools are not permitted here, as the location falls under a Nature Reserve. Fossils can be simply picked up loose from the beach. However, you will need something to put them in and sensible footwear is recommended. Please do not disturb the wildlife or geology.
SAFETY
Be aware of tides, as The Fleet is tidal and incoming tides are fast, especially close to The Fleet mouth, where this site is located. Be aware of muddy conditions beyond the firm surface of the beach, where the tide has retreated, as the mud can be slippery and deep in places.
ACCESS RIGHTS
This site is an SSSI and forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Jurassic Coast. For full information about the reasons for the status of the site and restrictions, download the PDF from Natural England.
This site is also part of the Chesil & Fleet Nature Reserve. Please do not disturb wildlife of the geology of the site. This means you can visit the site, but using tools is not permitted.
It is important to follow our ‘Code of Conduct’ when collecting fossils or visiting any site. Please also read our ‘Terms and Conditions‘
LINKS
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