Below the Forth Road and Forth Rail Bridge, Carboniferous fish fragments and plant remains can be found in the shale. It can take some time to find the fossiliferous zones, but once you do, there is plenty to be collected. Carboniferious, Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Writhlington spoil heap was created by the Geologists’ Association to preserve fossiliferous spoil for future study and is open to the public for fossil collecting. It has yielded hundreds of plants and insects species and is well documented. There is plenty to be found and, occasionally, the spoil is turned over to allow for better collecting (but this has not happened for a while). Carboniferous, Spoil, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Unworked since the early twentieth century, Clints Quarry is now quite overgrown. Some areas of scree can still be found, but fossils are becoming less common. This is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). Carboniferous, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦
While most people remember Blackgang Chine for its popular theme park, the cliffs of Blackgang Chine (which are slowly shrinking the theme park) also yield some fossils. These include trace fossils and occasional, but rare, dinosaur bones. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
The bay at Freshwater East is a great location for the whole family. The sandy beach is ideal for children and, as it is so large, it is unlikely to become crowded even in the height of summer. Fossils are fairly abundant and are easy to find. Carboniferous, Devonian, Silurian, Ordovician, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Spectacular bedding packed with corals can be seen at Barns Ness. This is a fantastic location for corals and there is plenty to be found here, although the fossils are not as well preserved as those from Aberlady. Carboniferious, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Along the seafront at Edinburgh, Carboniferous rocks yield fossil plant remains, crinoid stems and shells. Most of the best beds have been over-collected, but there are still lots of fossils to be found. Carboniferious, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
During scouring conditions, Coralline Crag is exposed below beach level at this location, which yields hard blocks full of shells, echinoids, bryozoans and corals. Pliocene, Foreshore, Rating: ♦
A peaceful, secluded bay, a wonderful cliff-top walk and some impressive coal measures plants make Nolton Haven a very pleasant location to find fossils. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Although fossils can be found at this location, it is the wildlife and geological features of the area that are the real treats. Fossil plant remains can be found in the cliffs and loose rocks. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
Some excellent geological features can be seen within Manorbier Bay and also from the clifftop path that leads southeast from the location. Crinoids and other fossils are abundant, and can be found in pebbles in the stream that crosses the sandy beach. Devonian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The magnificent tall Jurassic cliffs at Saltburn yield ammonites, belemnites, brachiopods and bivalves from the Cleveland Ironstone of the Lower Lias. The rocks here, however can be very hard and difficult to collect from. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
This new town may not be the prettiest in Cleveland, but is an ideal location for anyone interested in trace fossils. Fossil ripple marks and worm tubes are quite frequent; and bivalves are also very common. However, there is a large number of rocks along the beach, making walking difficult. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
This is a very popular location, but is sometimes difficult to access due to tide conditions. Whitby yields many ammonites, reptiles and shells, and is also famous for jet, which is the fossilised wood of monkey trees and used in jewellery. However, you can encounter a lot of competition at Whitby in your search for fossils. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Saltwick Bay yields many ammonites, reptiles and shells, and is also famous for jet, which is a type of lignite and considered to be a minor gemstone and popular for jewellery. Ammonites are often found in nodules, which are easy to split and found along the foreshore. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Ammonites are quite common at Staithes and they are also easy to prepare. In addition, you do not need to walk far to find them. They can be found in nodules along the foreshore or within ledges ready to be picked out. It is a popular location. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
This is one of the first places many people come to along the Yorkshire Coast, but most come back with nothing, unless they know where and what to look for. The middle of the bay consists of boulder clay, but either side can be quite productive. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Hayburn Wyke is a superb location in Yorkshire for finding fossil plants. There are not many people who are aware of this location, due to it being missed out from the highly popular Yorkshire Geological Guide published by the Geologists’ Association. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
This is another location where you can find ammonites and shells. It can be a very productive location when the conditions are right, yielding a wide range of ammonite species. Most fossils are found on the foreshore. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Scalby Ness is another good location for collecting plant remains. It is not as highly productive as other Yorkshire locations, due to the limited area. However, you can still find some very good plant remains from the boulders on the foreshore. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
This is a location that is worth stopping off at for an hour on the way to Elgol. Belemnites can be found here and a few rocks contain bivalves. Some sandstone outcrops also contain fossils. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
Many Silurian fossils, such as crinoid pieces, corals and brachiopods, can be collected at this National Trust managed limestone escarpment. The tourist information centre and museum in Much Wenlock is also worth a visit to learn a little more about the location and to view fossils from the area. Silurian, Cutting, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
This is a beautiful location, surrounded by luscious, green rolling countryside. Betton Dingle offers trilobite fossils, a pleasant walk and the guarantee of getting wet. Not a site for the unadventurous. Ordovician, Stream Embankment, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Fossils can be found in shales, which outcrop in the stream banks of the Hope Valley stream near the nature reserve. Finds are few and far between, but occasionally a nice, whole trilobite can be collected. Ordovician, Stream Embankment, Rating: ♦
This popular location among holiday makers has an expansive sandy beach with Cambrian shales outcropping on its north side. There are few fossils to be found, but the beach is an excellent place to take the family. Cambrian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
The rocks at North Berwick are volcanic tuffs, but cementstones within a small zone of tuff contain fish remains and 23 species of pteridosperms and lycopods. Carboniferious, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
The bay at Porthgain is eroded out of Ordovician shales, with the headlands on either side of it composed of more resistant igneous rocks. Although huge piles of shale can be found on the clifftop, fossils are sparse. Ordovician, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
To visit the entire Glasnakille stretch of coastline and to see its various bays and headlands, it must be accessed at three different places. The sea here reaches the plunging cliffs even at low tide. However, the scenery is worth the effort, even if fossil numbers are on the low side. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
Along the River Stour, Pleistocene cliffs at Stutton Ness yield the bones of mammoths and deer, while foreshore exposures of Eocene London clay yield a wide variety of fossil seeds.Pleistocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
Infrequent Cambrian fossils can be observed on the surfaces of dolomitic limestone boulders at the base of Ben Suardal. They are not particularly easy to find and are hard to collect, but their great age should be an incentive to at least try to find them. Cambrian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
It is quite a long walk down to the beach, but ammonites are well preserved and often found at this location. They can be found both at the north and south end of Ravenscar, but unfortunately, there is very little beach material and cliff falls are rare. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
The early Oligocene beds at Hamstead are highly fossiliferous in mammal, crocodile, turtle, crustaceans and fish remains. Molluscs, plants and seeds can also be found simply lying on the foreshore. Oligocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The huge cliffs of Culver Cliff can yield some superb sponges and large echinoids, with occasional fish remains. However, collecting from this location can be dangerous and difficult. Extreme care must be taken at all times. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
Cloughton Wyke is an excellent location for finding plant remains. The beds are rich in a variety of flora and collecting is fairly easy. Bivalves can also be found here, along with trace fossils, such as ripple marks and burrows. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
There are similar zones at Monmouth Beach to the Lias of Church Cliffs. Ammonites and reptile remains can be found on the foreshore, but you need a good scour to find any decent fossils. Jurassic, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Burnham-on-Crouch has yielded an incredible variety of fossils – you just never know what you will find. There are various species of shark (with teeth and vertebrae being most common fossils), crabs, seeds, fish remains (including ray teeth) and much, much more. Eocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
The Early Oligocene beds at Yarmouth are highly fossiliferous and mammal, crocodile, turtle, crustaceans and fish remains can all be found. Molluscs, plants and seeds can also be found simply lying on the foreshore. Oligocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
During favourable scouring conditions, Easton Wood exposes Norwich Crag shell beds along the foreshore. These are extremely rich in mammal remains and are the best preserved bones from any Norwich Crag site. Although highly productive, scouring only occurs every few years, although after gale force storms, mammal remains can often be washed ashore, lifted by the waves from the seafloor. Shell beds are also sometimes exposed in sporadic pockets along the cliff, but bones from these upper shell beds are rare. Pliocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
Overstrand is a foreshore collecting location. Chalk is exposed during low tide, especially during scouring conditions or winter/spring months. The chalk is highly fossiliferous, yielding many echinoids, sponges and molluscs. Pleistocene, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
There are two locations for fossils at Elie. The first is Elie Shore where, during scouring conditions and winter months, brachiopods, bivalves, sponges and trilobite fragments can be found. Nearby, the rocks at Wood Haven also contain fossils Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Helmsdale is the best place to collect Jurassic fossils in Scotland. Geologists have been fascinated by the strange ‘Boulder Beds’ for many years and some questions have remained unanswered as to how the beds were formed. The area is rich in reptile remains, giant corals, fish remains and the occasional ammonite. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Thurso is famous for its rich fish beds, and fish remains (especially scales) can be found everywhere along the foreshore – the rocks are full them. Fish teeth and complete fish have also been found. Devonian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Achanarras Quarry once constantly yielded complete Middle Devonian fish from the Old Red Sandstone. However, it has been disused for many years and is now over-collected, but still very rich in remains. Complete fish can still be found, but are now rare. Devonian, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
At Brora, Jurassic rocks are carried down and deposited from further upstream. These lie around the mouth of the river (River Brora) and along the beaches at the town. They can contain ammonites and shells. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
This is the official ‘Hugh Miller Trail’. Hugh Miller was one of the most important Scottish geologists of the 19th century. Ammonites and fossil fish can be found here. The footpath down to the shore was created by Hugh Miller himself. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
The tall Jurassic cliffs along the River Brora yield ammonites and belemnites. You will need wellington boots as the river runs next to the cliff face. Ammonites can be seen exposed on the ledges and platforms beside the river. Jurassic, River Cliffs, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Kintradwell is difficult to access, but if the ‘Boulder Beds’ are exposed, this site can be highly fossiliferous. Kintradwell’s rocky foreshore can also produce some surprises. However, be prepared for a long walk. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Baile an Or is ideal for families and children. It is set in beautiful scenery and you can pan for gold here. There is actually quite a lot of gold, although they are tiny grains. However, some people have collected enough gold to make a wedding ring and other jewellery. Please note that gold panning is no longer free, and a licence MUST be purchased. There are now strict rules regarding where, when, and how you can pan.Gold Panning, River, Rating: ♦♦♦
Golspie is famous for the castle of Dunrobin. However, few people know that, just below the castle on the foreshore, fossils can be collected in Jurassic rocks. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
What looks like an ordinary rocky beach, covered in seaweed, is actually rich in corals, ammonites and shells, although you need to work hard to find them. At Portgower, the rocks exposed are from the Jurassic and, if you split them, can yield flat ammonites and shells. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
