This location is most famously known for being the furthest point in the northeast of the UK mainland. This location is actually highly rich in fish remains (especially large fish scales) from Middle Devonian, John O’Groats Sandstone Group. Devonian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
A Jurassic fault along the Balintore foreshore is well exposed here. Fossil oysters are quite common, but belemnites can also be found. In addition, during the right conditions, Jurassic ammonites can be found. The cliffs here consist of Devonian strata. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
Spittal Quarry is home to the famous Caithness Flagstone, There are a few disused pits around, but this quarry is still working. There is a fossil museum close by at Spittal. Devonian, Working Quarry, Rating: ♦♦
Lothbeg is a tiny Hamlet in northern Scotland. Fossils can be found in the Jurassic rocks on the foreshore. Kimmeridge Clay is often exposed and plants can be found in the soft Lothbeg Beds. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Crakaig is a tiny hamlet in northern Scotland, where fossils can be found in the Jurassic rocks on the foreshore. However, some of them – the Kimmeridge Clay – are only exposed during scours. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
At Tarbat Ness, the Devonian rocks can contain small fish remains. Scales can be seen on ledges at the headland within a pebble bed. Larger fish fragments can also be found, but are less common. Devonian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Ramsholt is one of the best locations for fossils in Suffolk, yielding sharks’ teeth, lobsters, fruit and shells from the London Clay, shells, sharks’ teeth from the Red Crag, corals, echinoids from the Coralline, and complete crabs, fish remains and sharks’ teeth from the basement bed. Eocene, Pliocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Neutral Farm Pit is a classic Red Crag geological site that is easy to access. The face is showing some signs of being overgrown, but there is still a good area to collect shells from. The pit is near the village of Butley. Pliocene, Disused Pit, Rating: ♦♦♦
Crag Farm Pit is a classic Coralline Crag site and a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). It is rich in bryozoans and well-documented wave-features in the sands. There are few other fossils, but it is certainly a location to visit for anyone who is interested in bryozoans. Pliocene, Disused Pit, Rating: ♦♦♦
The chalk at Weybourne yields echinoids and brachiopods, but resting on this is the Wroxham Crag. This yields mammal and fish remains, along with a wide variety of molluscs in the thick shell beds and crag sands. Pleistocene, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
This location is similar to Quantoxhead. Kilve is another location for collecting ammonites and reptile remains. However, vertebras are as common here as ammonites. It is also set in tranquil surroundings and is ideal for all the family to enjoy. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
This is the location of the famous ‘West Runton Elephant’ find. From the West Runton Fresh Water Bed, mammal and fish remains are common, along with freshwater shells. On the foreshore, during scouring tides, the chalk yields echinoids and sponges. Pleistocene, Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Watchet is rich in reptile remains and ammonites are also common. There are also some spectacular faults, which can be seen along with fossil casts of giant ammonites on the foreshore. This is a must-visit location for anyone in the area who is into fossils. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Where else do you get to collect fossils from almost the full chalk successful along with the Greensand within just a few metres? This location is superb for its geology, but also for its cretaceous ammonites and other fossils. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
The Devonian rocks at Pendower Beach contain shell impressions, but are poorly preserved and trilobites are extremely rare. However, as with all Cornish fossil locations, this site is mainly for fossil enthusiasts and geologists who are not expecting lots of finds, but who can appreciate an interesting location. Devonian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Quiet, peaceful and tranquil, Quantoxhead has several kilometres of tall Jurassic cliffs and a very long wave-cut platform. Many fossils, including some superb ammonites and reptile remains, can be found here. There are also plenty of rock pools for the kids.Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
At Hinkley Point, you can find complete fish and reptile bones exposed along on the foreshore. Vertebrae of Ichthyosaur are commonly found loose in the foreshore single. Ammonites and shells can also be found. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Portishead is an interesting location with both Carboniferous and Devonian rocks. At Battery Point, many corals and crinoids can be collected from the rocks on the foreshore and there are plenty to be found. Further along Woodhill Bay, fish remains are also commonly found. Carboniferous, Devonian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Thorncombe Beacon yields everything from several different species of ammonites, shells (including brachiopods and bivalves), some superb starfish specimens, crinoids, belemnites and much, much more. However you often have to work hard to find them. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Whitehaven is one of the only places in the UK where fossil plants from the Carboniferous can be collected on the coast both on the foreshore and in the cliffs. This unique location can yield some well-preserved specimens. Carboniferous, Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
At Stockdale Quarry, Ordovician slates yield a variety of fauna including trilobites, corals, graptolites, brachiopods, bivalves and gastropods. This disused quarry is situated at the top of a large hill. Ordovician, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦
The fossils found at Hodgson How Quarry can be seen in the local Keswick Museum, where there are some superb and unusual species of graptolites. These are common in the beds at this disused quarry. In fact, this is one of the best graptolite locations in the Lake District. .Ordovician, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
The area around the town of Coniston from which fossils and minerals can be collected is quite large. It includes several quarries, and several becks and scree slopes. There is also a number of small cuttings. Graptolites and trilobites can be collected here, along with brachiopods. Silurian, Ordovician, Cuttings, Disused Quarries, Rating: ♦♦♦
Not is not a location for fossil hunting, but a wide range of minerals can be found from the Duddon Hall Tuff Formation in the Borrowdale Volcanic Group. Most of the disused quarries here are now filled with spoil, but are still productive. Ordovician, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
At Stockdale Beck, Silurian rocks have been cut through by water and various zones are exposed. There is one particular zone in which well-preserved graptolites can be found. Silurian, Stream, Rating: ♦
Once a thriving community with locally mined ironstone shipped from its own harbour, Port Mulgrave is now closed, but highly productive for a wide range of ammonites, along with reptile remains and more. It is one of the best locations for collecting in Yorkshire. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Kettleness is the most productive location in Yorkshire for reptile remains. These are common and can be found loose or in nodules. Kettleness is also very popular for ammonites, which are similar to those from Port Mulgrave. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Weston-super-Mare is a fascinating geological location. Underwater volcanoes during the Carboniferous period sometimes buried life forms and preserved them in the rocks now exposed on the foreshore and cliff. Well-preserved corals, bryozoans, algae, bivalves and brachiopods can be found. Carboniferous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
You can find almost anything, such as ammonites, shells, belemnites, reptiles (for example, ichthyosaurs), echinoids and more from the boulder clay; and mammalian and bird remains from the Forest Bed during scouring conditions. Pleistocene, Erratics (Jurassic, Cretaceous), Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
Levington is a location on the River Orwell, where London Clay is exposed in large cliffs and on the foreshore. It has yielded a large number of reptile remains, including one complete skeleton. Eocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦
Unlike the other nearby Norwich Crag locations, Covehithe does not yield mammal remains, although they can occasionally turn up, washed from the seabed or from nearby Easton Wood. What makes Covehithe interesting is a series of thick shell beds below beach level, where shells are exposed in life position, along with a black carbon layer containing fossil seeds. This is the only place where these can be found in the Pliocene Crags. Glacial flint fossils can also be collected. Erratics (Cretaceous), Pliocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦
Nacton Shore is a location on the River Orwell, where London Clay is exposed in a small cliff and on the foreshore. The foreshore at Nacton and Levington has yielded a large number of reptile remains, including one complete skeleton. Eocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
Ketton Quarry is over a mile wide – its size has to be seen to be believed. The rocks here contain ammonites, corals, brachiopods, bivalves, fish and reptile remains, and much, much more. This is a superb location to visit. The quarry has recently been designated SSSI status. Jurassic, Working Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Hopes Nose is a headland two miles east of Torquay, which forms a finger-like rocky tip at the northern end of Torbay. All around this area are fossils, together with remnants of extinct corals which were formed when the Devonian seas were relatively shallow. The best place to see these is on the foreshore at Hope’s Nose when the tide is low. It’s in this area where you’ll also find Devonshire cup corals (Caryophyllia smithii) and brachiopods. Hope’s Nose is an SSSI location, so collecting from, or hammering the bedrock, is not permitted. However, it remains one of the most famous locations for Devonian corals, trilobites and bivalves in the UK. In fact, the Natural History Museum in London has many specimens on display from this site. Devonian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Daddy Hole was once a highly productive quarry, but now forms part of the Torquay coastline. It is rich in Devonian corals and is now an SSSI. Corals can be found in both the quarry and scree slopes on the foreshore. Devonian, Cliffs, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
The famous red and white cliffs of Hunstanton are visited by thousands of people each year simply to see this spectacular natural geological feature. The Red Rock and White Lower Chalk are rich in fossils including echinoids, fish, sharks’ teeth, bivalves and brachiopods, ammonites and more. Cretaceous, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
This location consists of a series of locations along a designated geological route in Mortimer Forest. You can collect a large number of superb corals, brachiopods, bivalves and trilobites from various cuttings and all the fossils are in superb condition. It is an excellent walk too. Silurian, Cuttings, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
This location is so over collected that you have to crawl into the cutting and it can be hard to get any decent rock samples for splitting, but the rewards are worth the hard work. Superb trilobites and graptolites in excellent condition can be found, and some are complete. Silurian, Stream and Cuttings, Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
This is another walk along a designated geological route visiting two stream sections and two further cuttings, including an old railway cutting and a quarry. The rocks here are Silurian, Ordovician and Pre-Cambrian. Shells, graptolites and trilobites can all be found. Silurian, Ordovician, Cuttings, Stream, and Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
This is a stream section, which has been cut back into highly fossiliferous Silurian rocks. Plenty of excellent corals can be found, along with brachiopods, bivalves and trilobites. Most of the fossils have been washed out from the rocks and are just lying in the stream. Silurian, Stream, Rating: ♦♦♦
This quarry is overgrown, but still has lots of fossils. Good exposures of the Wenlock Limestone yield a variety of corals, shells and trilobites. It is quite large, with three main sections. Silurian, Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
Lyme Regis is the most commercial fossil town in the UK, with fossil shops, museums, fossil tours and much, much more – there is no other town like it. The famous beach of Lyme Regis yields large numbers of fossils and people flock here by their thousands to try their luck. The town has a number of fossil shops and includes a museum. There are regular guided fossil collecting tours, showing you where to find fossils and providing general information. The town has had a lot of money spend on making it one of the most beautiful towns in Dorset. Even the lamp posts in Lyme Regis are shaped like ammonites! Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
The glacial pebble beds at Benacre yield a range of derived fossils including echinoids, sponges, shells and belemnites. At the base of the cliff, the Baventian Clay is several metres thick. Erratics (Cretaceous), Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
During scouring conditions, mammal remains can be found below beach level and bones can also be found washed up after storms. However, Dunwich hasn’t scoured for many years. Pliocene, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
At Crimplesham, Kimmeridge Clay and Oxford Clay are exposed. Within the Oxford Clay are large nodules, which contain ammonites, brachiopods and bivalves. The quarry is slowly being backfilled, so collecting is becoming more limited. Jurassic, Working Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
Llantwit Major is an excellent place in Wales for Jurassic fossils. The huge cliffs yield a wide range of fossils and unique is the large amount of marine life, for example corals and giant brachiopods and gastropods. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
Doniford Bay yields some superb white ammonites, which can be found in the rocks on the foreshore. There are also a number of well-preserved brachiopods and bivalves. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
St Audries bay is another location along the Somerset Jurassic coastline providing more wave-cut platforms and cliffs in which to find ammonites and shells. Jurassic, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦♦♦
