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Hello Everyone! After my very successful trip to Charmouth last time, I have been on 4 single day trips across the months of February/March/April, and wanted to share each days finds. I was once again looking for bone fossils - and had more luck than I possibly could have hoped for as far as I am concerned! I spent the majority of the time on Charmouth beach, though I did walk across to Lyme Regis Church cliffs on a couple of days. DAY 1 I found 4 very nice bone fossils, including my first articulated vertebrae, and my first definite piece of jaw! Apart from the damage to one side, the bone quality on this Ichthyosaur tail vertebra is very nice - an excellent start to the first day. My first set of articulated vertebrae! The base of the neural arches are also present though most has been been worn off. A nice section of Ichthyosaur jaw, with some other bone fragments stuck in the pyrite. A fairly worn Ichthyosaur vertebra which at the time was my largest to date. DAY 2 3 Bone fossils were found on day 2 - all of which were vertebrae. 3 Articulated ichthyosaur vertebrae - although these are worn down to pretty much a pebble - I was still over the moon with this. Next challenge would be finding 4 articulated! Another single tail vertebrae, the size and preservation on this one is so similar to the one I found in day 1 (and only found a week apart), which makes me think these could be from the same animal. Half an Ichthyosaur vertebra, which shows the bone tie shape nicely. DAY 3 4 Bone fossils were found on day 3, including my best preserved ichthyosaur vertebra, and a section of jaw with some worn down teeth. My assumption on this one is that it is an Ichthyosaur paddle digit, though I wasn't aware that they could be sloped like this? But the bone surface on the top and bottom have the lines radiating from the centre like I have seen on other digits. My best preserved vertebra to date, the photo doesn't do it justice but the bone quality is amazing on this one, and it has pretty much 0 wear from the sea. A quite worn unknown piece of bone, although the shape initially suggested paddle digit to me, I'm now not so sure A very small section of jaw with some worn down teeth! This one was just staring at me on my walk back to the car to drive home. DAY 4 This is easily the best day I have had fossil hunting to date - and I think I will be hard pressed to beat these finds. 2 Good sided articulated Ichthyosaur vertebrae from- need some mudstone cleaning off. This was the first find of the day - and it only got better from here on. A Partial Caturus sp. fish skull! Probably my favourite find to date. I am able to identify the branchiostegal rays at the bottom there but if anyone with more knowledge about fish skulls recognises any of the other skull sections please let me know. I assumed that the next bone up from the rays in the below photo is the dentary/angular but again I am very new to all this. This bone appears to have an ovular cross section from the second photo below which is what made me think jaw. 2 Nice sized ichthyosaur vertebrae with the neural arches present - in the matrix. A small piece of bone, I wasn't too sure on this one, and it may be too small to really know what this could have been. I found some nice ammonites, crinoids and a devils toenail too, though as I was mainly looking for bones, hence why I didn't end up putting them in this post. I actually managed to find more bones than in my 5 day trip from before where I was looking for bones. My favourites definitely have to be the fish skull, the large articulated vertebrae with neural arches, and the jaw with teeth. Needless to say I have definitely 'caught the bug', and will be returning again soon.

My son found this on the beach and wondered if it might be a tooth or if it's just a rock that looks like a tooth! It's roughly 2cm long and was found on Charmouth beach in Dorset. Unfortunately it was damaged in transit home and I have had to glue it back together, the split you can see is on the left side top to bottom. Thanks in advance.

Greetings, I have 4 pieces from Charmouth on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset that I am having trouble identifying. They were found during a fossil hunt led by the Charmouth Heritage Coast Center when they brought us to a stretch of beach between the Centre and Black Ven to the west. We would have been looking through the Black Ven Mudstone 'Shales with Beef' portion on the foreshore, which is from the Jurassic (no surprise, given the name of the area) period. Here are my best guesses: A = rolled bone, B = crinoid stem or coral, C = multiple bivalves and ammonite impression in matrix, D (the unlabelled one) = wood As always, corrections/confirmations/clarifications are much appreciated, as is your time for reading my post!

Hi everyone! A few months ago I came across a post by another user displaying their impressive collection of marine reptile bones they collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth, U.K. I had no idea that you could have such success with bone fossils along this stretch, so I decided to take a trip and see what I could find. I had a great time and found a good amount of bone pieces, Here is what I came back with after 5 days of looking on Charmouth beach, in order of finding: Now some closer photos by type. I found 2 full Ichthyosaur vertebrae, one from the ribcage section (which I forgot to include in the overall photo), and one from the tail: One very small partial Ichthyosaur vertebra: 2 Ichthyosaur paddle digits: 2 pieces of Ichthyosaur rib bone, from very differently sized creatures! These two are harder to identify, the best guess so far is possibly part of a shoulder bone on the left and possibly a piece of Ichthyosaur jaw on the right, though they are quite rolled and thus hard to get a solid ID: A partial fossilised shark fin spine from a hybodus shark: Another unidentified and heavily worn piece of bone, perhaps from the skull of something, the man in the heritage centre seemed to think it wasn’t Ichthyosaur or plesiosaur: and finally, another unidentified piece, possibly some part of a fish? I have a separate ID post for these last 2 with videos and more photos of you have any ideas for them! All in all extremely happy with what I found, and will definitely be returning!

This is a marine reptile bone that i found nearly 10 years ago between Lyme Regis and Charmouth, which is famous for its Early Jurassic marine fossils (about 195 million years old). Although it is worn there is some clear shape that should indicate what bone it is, although i have so far been unable to figure it out. Realistically, it is going to be ichthyosaur (most likely) or plesiosaur in origin. Two ovular depressions/joint surfaces are clearly visible on one side of the bone. Furthermore, the flatness of the bone is real and not just due to wear (both main faces are the edge/surface of the bone). The side with the two suspected joint surfaces is the thickest side, and it slopes down to become progressively thinner opposite to them. A paddle bone of some sort is my suspicion but i am yet to see a clear match. Any ideas? Thanks!

Hi everyone! I found these at Charmouth over the weekend (Black Ven side) and just was hoping for some help with identifything them. I took them to the Heritage centre and Phil said they were likely a bone from the top of the skull of something (not sure what), and maybe a part of a fish - possibly the cheek? He suggested to post on a fossil ID Facebook group which I have done, IMG_4516.MOV IMG_4519.MOV and I thought I would also put it here too just to see if anyone has any ideas. I can add some still images of these videos are not clear enough.

Hello everyone - I am getting into fossil collecting and recently had a trip to Charmouth, UK. I would like to try to ID some of the pyrite ammonite species I found there. I've written what I thought they might be based on information and photos I have found online but I am very much a beginner so I would like some help checking them. I've also included another pyrite fossil which I'm not sure what it is at the end. 35mm long paperclip for scale. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! 1: Both Promicroceras? 2: Not sure - maybe Echioceras? 3: Oxynoticeras? 4: Another Echioceras? 5: No idea - looks like a fragment of something conical with horizontal bands around it which can be sort of seen in the first image - mostly encased in pyrite.

Hi again. My ever dwindling fossil collection, will hopefully survive this ID session. I found most of these in April 23 amongst cliff fall rocks on the beach in Charmouth UK. I found the large grey blobbly one on the right in September same place. There is one that looks like a perfect acorn and some similar. The large browner looking one seems to be made up of nutty nodes. I'm wondering if they are coprolites. I'm sure they were greyer when I found them. Should I coat these with B-72, should I leave them be or am I imagining fossils that are just funny shaped rocks? Thanks, Jes.

Hello again. I managed to split that massive rock with a Bi-Valve inside. Other than that, there was nothing else obvious in it, so I've turned my attention to this little cluster that I found in Charmouth, Dorset, England, last April. It was in cliff debris on the beach. I'm sorry I don't know enough about layers, but it's Jurassic. It comprises of Ammonites and other shell fossils. I would like to know the name of the curly shell and the flat base, which I thought was a clam type shell, but it doesn't have any ridges or grooves on it. Also once I've finished the prepping, what type of coating should I use for this? Previously I have used clear varnish, but I've heard this is a No-no. Cheers Jes.

Hi, I'm Jes and this is my first ID post, so hopefully the easiest. I know this is an Ammonite, but I don't know what kind. What features identify it as a certain species? I found it in Charmouth, Dorset, UK in April 2023. It was amongst the debris from a cliff fall on the beach. I believe it is Pyrite with some Calcite in the middle.