Warden Point provides access to the fossil-rich London Clay coast of the Isle of Sheppey. Small fossils collect in beach shingle and pyrite drifts, while phosphatic nodules can preserve larger animals. Marine fossils and plant remains record an early Eocene sea receiving material from warm-climate forests. Mud, tides and landslips demand a carefully planned visit. Eocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Minster gives access to the western end of Sheppey’s fossil-rich London Clay coast, where fruits, seeds and other small fossils collect among shingle and pyrite. Larger nodules can preserve rarer animals, although reaching the productive shore involves a longer walk than at Warden Point. The coast’s mud, tides and unstable slopes require careful route planning. Eocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The small fossil tip near Blaenafon is part of the wider Canada Tips mining landscape. Its weathered shale preserves Carboniferous plant fossils, from ribbed stems to patterned bark and rooting organs, offering a close view of the vegetation that helped build the South Wales coalfield. Carboniferous, Spoil Heap, Rating: ♦♦♦
Reclaimed colliery spoil in Bargoed Woodland Park preserves fragments of the Carboniferous vegetation once buried beneath the valley. Ribbed stems, patterned bark and leaf impressions provide a record of ancient coal-swamp plants within a landscape reshaped by mining and restoration. Carboniferous, Spoil Heap, Rating: ♦♦♦
Unlike East Wemyss, where the cliffs are cut from a disused spoil heap, at West Wemyss, the cliffs contain in situ Carboniferous beds. There are very few locations in the UK where there are coastal sections of the actual coal measures. You can see very distinctive coal seams, and layers of harder rock and shale. The shale, both in the cliff and on the foreshore, is highly fossiliferous with plant remains.
Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The conspicuous spoil heap at Dalmellington contains Carboniferous Coal Measures rocks, including dark shale with fish teeth, scales and bones. Plant remains and coprolites are also recorded. Mining has mixed the material, so individual finds cannot be assigned to a source bed simply from their position on the tip. Collecting requires permission and particular care around the unstable slopes. Carboniferous, Spoil Heap, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The River Ayr banks at Annbank preserve a well-studied record of Carboniferous plants, from fern-like seed plants and strap-shaped leaves to jointed stems and delicate reproductive structures. The fossil-bearing Scottish Middle Coal Measures tell a story of peat swamps, flooding and transported foliage, but steep, vegetated riverbanks make this a demanding locality where safe access and collecting permission must be established. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
Along Joppa Shore, east of Portobello, tilted Carboniferous rocks record changing seas, river deltas and coal-forming wetlands. Plant remains, crinoid stems and shells link the fossils to those different environments, while the rocky foreshore reveals a long succession from marine limestones to sandstone and coal measures. Carboniferious, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Auchinleck Tip contains mixed Carboniferous mine spoil, historically attributed to the Scottish Middle Coal Measures Formation. Among the hard limestone blocks, shale can yield plant stems and roots, including stems of Calamites. Many pieces are barren or poorly preserved, but the original account records occasional better plant remains. The dumped rocks no longer retain their original bed order. Carboniferious, Spoil Heap, Rating: ♦♦♦
Following the Bellyford Burn is the disused Pencaitland Railway. This track is now used by cyclists, runners and walkers, and is a lovely walk. The old railway has boards along its way, detailing how coal was mined, and providing information about the old railway. In the middle of the walk are two very large spoil heaps that contain fossil plants from the Carboniferous shale.
Carboniferous, Spoil heaps, Rating: ♦♦♦
The foreshore east of the Forth Rail Bridge at South Queensferry exposes Carboniferous fish remains, coprolites and plant fragments, together with a distinct marine shell bed. From Port Neuk to Long Rib, folded sandstone, dark oil shale and pale intrusions reveal a changing landscape of lakes, deltas and brief marine incursions. Carboniferious, Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
