Withernsea fossils and fossil collecting

Other Locations similar to Withernsea

In North Yorkshire, Reighton Gap and Cayton Bay also have Boulder Clay, but the best place for Boulder Clay fossils is the whole coastline South of Bridlington to Easington, known as the Holderness Coastline.

Due to the rapid erosion along that part of the coast, access is always changing. But locations of Mappleton, Easington, Withernsea, Ulrome, Withernsea and Withernsea are accessible.

If you enjoy collecting from Boulder Clay why not try the Suffolk Coast. There are plenty of locations to visit including, Happisburgh, Pakefield, Gisleham Quarry, or Corton.

A pick is handy for the clay, but generally, all you need is a good eye. Remember to wrap your finds. A hammer may also come in handy to break any rocks. Trainers or walking boots will be fine, unless you are visiting after exceptionally high tides, where the clay may be quite sticky on the beach.

The Holderness Coastline is more famously known for its rapid erosion, and as such, the topic for many school projects in geography lessons. Attempts to slow down the rapid rate of erosion have failed, and in some cases made the situation much worse. Due to this erosion, access is only possible in some locations. The cliffs at Withernsea are not hit so often as others along the coastline, but fossils can still be found in the rocks lying around from the winter storms.

These rapid erosion rates makes this area an excellent place to regularly collect fossils, knowing that almost every time you visit, fresh material will be available to search through.

The fossils are erratic's, in other words, they do not come from the actual deposits that they are found in. The fossils were brought down during the last ice age, dragged from the North trapped in giant ice sheets and dumped along the Holderness Coastline.

You can find almost anything from the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks of Yorkshire and also a number of Carboniferous rocks. Fossils include ammonites, belemnites, echinoids, corals and molluscs, being the most common, but also reptile remains if you are luckily. Whilst this makes it more exciting, you can never fully date these fossils as it is impossible to tell exactly what bed they are from.

Search the scree, slipped material and foreshore for fossils. Often the sea will do most of the work for you, acting like a giant sieve, and dropping all the fossils along the foreshore. The fossils can be well hidden, trapped in the clay and around rocks. Some of the best fossils are inside the rocks, so it is ideal to take a hammer to break these rocks. Look for the signs of fossil evidence. For example, there are a number of rocks full of worn ammonites on the outside. If you split these rocks using a splitting chisel, you will find many complete ammonites in excellent condition inside!

Withernsea is part of the Holderness Coastline, and due to its rapid erosion rates, is often the subject for study in school geography lessons. Holderness is underlain by Cretaceous Chalk but along this coastline, it is so deeply buried beneath the glacial deposits that it is never exposed on the beach.

The cliffs are dominated by deposits of till and boulder clays deposited during the Devensian glaciation period (Pleistocene age). Within these deposits, you will find many erratics, and it is these that contain the Jurassic, Carboniferous and Cretaceous fossils ....[more]

Cretaceous belemnite, these are common from Withernsea...[more]