Friday 20 August 2010

Fossil Hunting Friday

Today I went out on my own, to a place I went to when I was a child but not since. I suddenly remembered it, and googled 'beach with sharks teeth kent'
which took me here. Here is Herne Bay in Kent, specifically Beltinge and Reculver. It was cool when I set off in the morning, and as I imagined walking around on mud I wore my boots, jeans and a shirt. By the time I was walking along the beach it was boiling and I wished I had brought my swimming costume! I had to walk a long way to find a loo, then back again to where I thought I would find fossils. I sat on the beach for a while to cool off and it was so peaceful. It is a lovely beach with cliffs, rock pools and good views. I wandered around looking unsuccessfully for fossilised sharks teeth. I was asked by a lady there with her family if I was fossil hunting as she thought I might be some kind of expert-must have been the boots! I had to disappoint her, but her son didn't care, he just rushed up and proudly showed me his bucket of crabs!
As I was walking back, having given up on finding anything, I found the thing at the bottom-looks like a tooth which is what caught my eye, but is in fact a claw of a crab-I think. But, it was right next to the thing above which is a tooth-I think! It is certainly a fossil! I was so excited to have found something! Then I went on to find lots of fossilised bivalve shells and some fossilised wood-pictures tomorrow of those. The website above has good pictures of the kinds of things you can find. I have just looked at the website again and discovered that my fossil is about 56 million years old. I find that hard to comprehend! Now it is continuing to age on my kitchen table.

This is Reculver. The building is a twelfth century church-or at least its remains. I drove up here when I had finally climbed back up the 75 steps from the beach at Beltinge. I was happy to find a cafe, toilets and a pub-for future outings! I will have a proper look at the ruins next time.

Sinister looking funnels above a building on the sea front.
I think they are extractor fans of some sort.
I liked this beach umbrella.
Weathered wooden post.

9 comments:

Helen McCookerybook said...

That sounds like a perfect day out to me!
H x

Lori Saul said...

What a lovely adventure and to find such a relic! You must check out those ruins as well. Thank you for sharing this wonderful holiday outing Sarah!

Leenie said...

Amazing finds...all of them. I can't even fathom one million years. 56 million. Holy cow! I'll think about that when I feel like I'm getting too close to geezerness.

Glad your fossil hunt was successful and that you found a loo even if you had to climb 75 steps to get there.

Linda Sue said...

Sigh, wonderful day with you- better than my real day- thank you. Boots on a hot beach is never a good idea, is it. glad you found a treasure- your photos are such an adventure.

Anonymous said...

I've never been fossil hunting. I'm glad you found some after all that walking about in the heat!

jabblog said...

An excellent day out - finding fossils and a pub for future reference.

Tracy said...

Wow... what a blissful day! Reculver looks a wonder... LOVE how you've used the wood for your new banner! Happy Weekend, Sarah :o) ((HUGS))

Anonymous said...

What a fun day! I love the picture of the church ruins!

xxx said...

Sarah your blog is a fun place to visit.

thanks for all that you share

best wishes
Robyn