Search the Community

Now back from a collecting trip to Norfolk, I have much to do. I have several fossils in need of prep and many need IDs to make. Not forgetting to wash down the tent and put away the camping gear. But luckily, I still have a bit of time to post on the forum. We went to two different locations, both beaches on the north coast of Norfolk. One was Overstrand, the other East/west Runton. You can find similar things at both, mammal bones, echinoids, belemnites etc. Overstrand did not seem to yield so many finds but East and West Runton was unbelievable. The day after arrival, we drove to Runton and found free parking, with only a quick walk to the beach. Once there, I looked along the cliff quickly, finding nothing, but then as the tide was out, I went down to the shingle and the chalk exposure. Within minutes of getting down to the beach, belemnites started turning up everywhere. Some of them were small sections, others large, robust ones. The ones which had the end point in tact were the most treasured. Within half an hour I had a huge bag full. The whole day was spent on the beach picking up belemnites, and the occasional echinoid and sponge. The next day, we went a little further up the coast, to Overstrand, but there was not much to be found. I found a belemnite and some sponges, but not much else, so we gave up and drove to Runton again, where there was much to be found. Again we had a day of millions of belemnites. This time I went up to the cliff nearing the end of the day and I met some people also looking for fossils, they had not found anything, so I showed them what to look for. I moved on, and dug in some fallen clay. I was very lucky finding some shells, wood and even some mammal bones. It had been another great day hunting. The last full day before going home was not very fossil related. We saw some wild seals at Horsey, but I did manage to find some fossil wood on the beach at the same time. There were thousands of seals on the beach, colony after colony, each having around 200 seals in. We were very lucky as sometimes there are not any at all. On the way back we stopped off in a fossil show where I got some copal, a mammal bone from the surrounding area and some rare worm fossils from the isle of Sheppey in Kent, UK. On the day we came home, we had a quick hours hunting at Runton again. We found several hundred belemnites, which was very pleasing. Now that you know roughly what happened, I will post the fossil pictures. Starting with some random ones, next I will post the Overstrand finds, then I will end with Runton. Hope you enjoy it!