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Hi all, This Saturday was a long awaited day. It was meant to already happen 3 weekends earlier, but due to many different annoying factors (bad weather, last-minute activities, etc) we only got to do it later... Luckily this gave me some more time to finish buidling my homemade sifter: When a good day finally opened up for the hunt, we got all the equipment ready and packed the car. We then set off to our 1 1/2 hour road trip from The Hague till our final destination: a pit in the region of Antwerp, Belgium (*). We stopped after an hour of car ride in the village of Stabroek, in the north of Flanders. We went to this cute little restaurant called "Taverne de Neus" (translation: "Tavern the Nose", curious name). There we ate the real Belgian meal: garnalenkroket (search it up) with fries (this is, contrary to popular belief, a Belgian invention, and NOT French!). After having a full belly for the fossil hunting, we went back on the road and arrived at our final destination. We parked our car, and just as we arrived, a young man (who works at the Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam) and his mother were leaving the area. They told us that up in the pit there was a lovely couple searching there, and that they would be able to give us many tips for on our first hunt here. So we went there, and met them. Very generous, they told us exactly how to find what, and thanks to them we quickly found fossils on our own too! Shortly after a very nice French-speaking family, with two kids of about 6 and 8, arrived at the location too. It was only their second time here, and they too were happy to receive some advice from the more experienced couple. We had some great fossil-related talks all together, and I think we all learnt a lot from one another. Now back to the actual hunt: in the sand, it was easy to find many nice fossil seashells and some whale bone pieces, and with a bit of luck some small broken shark teeth. But the "real stuff" was found by sifting the thick dark-grey sand underneath the grass. We had to first dig a hole in the grass, until we encountered a harder and "crunchier" layer of sand. We had to take some of this, put it in the sifter and then shake. And Tadaa! Beautiful shark teeth! The thing was, our sifter was a hand-sifter. Therefore it takes up a lot more energy to sift, and it is done less efficiently. The couple that were there had a much more useful system: a sifter with a foot. It had a long foot underneath, stuck in the ground, which made shaking a lot easier, as the weight of the sifter didn't have to be carried. Also, as they could therefore afford a heavier sifter, they put two screens on each other. The first one only for bigger fossils, the second one to also keep the smaller ones. This made their job a lot easier. My sifter still worked just fine, and for a first one I think it's pretty decent! The couple, which were also very generous, were kind enough to give us some nice shark teeth too, in order to slightly broaden our haul. Here is the total haul: guess I can't complain for a first time!!! On the far right, whale bone pieces. The three small black things under them are bivalve and gastropod steinkerns. Beneath those (middle-right) you have two concretions with scallops. Then all along the left side you have fossil seashells. Species include: Glycymeris, Laevastarte, Astarte, Natica, Cardites, Cyclocardia, Turitella, Nassarius, etc. Those shells are likely from the Pliocene. And finally, the things that might have caught your eye the most: shark teeth! Species include: Carcharodon, Carcharhinus, Isurus, Carcharoides, Notorhynchus, etc. Those shark teeth are usually from the Miocene-Pliocene, but some are from the Eocene. Here are the teeth that I got from the couple (so not personal finds; still very happy to have them!): And here what are, in my opinion, the best personal finds: Necklace shell (Natica sp. ?)