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Hi everyone! I was into dinosaurs when I was a kid, but my then stated goal of being a palaeontologist kind of fell by the wayside in my teens. I've always tried to keep an eye on cool stuff going on though, and I randomly saw the Ladbible video of Mamlambos giant crab prep on FB last week. Somehow the concept of fossil YouTube hadn't occurred to me, so I spent a bunch of time watching him then decided to see if there's anywhere in Essex with fossils. Turns out Burnham and Mersea are both accessible to me fairly easily, so my plan is to get out there some point next year and satisfy my inner 7 year old. I'd like to make a trip to Whitby for ammonites at some point as well, always thought they were cool. Outside of fossils, I'm a big tabletop gamer. I play Magic as well as various rpgs and GW games. Dragonlover

Hi, Found this bone over Christmas whilst on a beach walk on the south coast of England. Please could someone identify what animal it's from and what part of the body too? It's about 15cm long. Thanks, Steve

Fossil discovery of 5 mammoths along with Neanderthal tools reveals life in ice age By Ashley Strickland, CNN, December 29, 2021 Mammoth graveyard: Fossil hunters describe thrill of discovery (Wiltshire, England) BBC News, December 30, 2021 Yours, Paul H.

Hello all, My name is Ali and I'm a Canadian living in the UK. I'm brand new to fossil collecting, so I thought this forum would be a good way to learn a little about the subject! While I know very little about fossils, I have always been fascinated by natural history. Recently I have been thinking of acquiring a few fossils (e.g.: ammonites, trilobites, mammoth tusks, etc.) as well as other wonders of nature (such as meteorites) as I find them quite quite striking - however, it certainly seems I have a lot to learn! Thank you for having me, I look forward to learning from you all and sharing as much as I can! -Ali

Hi guys Went over to Sheppey yesterday to see what I could find... I'm a total novice, so I tend to pick up anything with an interesting shape and/or texture. Found some pyritised wood/twigs, a bit of crab in a phosphatic nodule, a little gastropod and some very round seed pods. The following pics are of the ones I had trouble figuring out due to their shapes resembling other things. Any clues would be great! Thanks ONE I'd like to think it's some kind of pointy reptile scute, but from my browse online it's possibly a pyritised seed husk? 3rd pic shows the depth of the piece and a VERY smooth and shiny blob inside TWO & THREE LEFT: Again, probably a seed pod/husk. Has a pitted texture similar to a piece of crab shell, but a lot less uniform. Kinda reminds me of a Tapir toe RIGHT: Possibly a shrimp? lobster? Maybe some clustered belemnite parts? Looks like a very full hot dog bun haha. Had to wet it to bring out the details. FOUR I thought some encased bone or wood? Online research leads me to believe it could be a lobster burrow? The back is solid light brown rock with no inner black part showing through. FIVE Had to dunk this one in some water to get the details and colour to come out. 3rd pic looks a lot darker and shinier for some reason, but it's not coal. Fossilised wood- with possible bug borings? (based on the dotty parts in the 2nd pic) Hopefully there's something vaguely interesting here haha Thanks for looking

I do not know much about fossils or how to definitively identify one. I found this and it seems like some sort of ancient arthropod. I found it on a rock beach in southern England (Eastbourne). Any help identifying this would be appreciated.

Hi. So, I have a couple of pieces of animal bone that I cannot identify - I feel like I should know what they are but just can't quite put my finger on it. They were located in Lincolnshire, England, and I'm after the type of bone they are and possibly the animal - although large (cattle sized), medium (sheep sized) or small (rabbit sized) would also work for what I need them for. I will post each individual bone in a separate post to make it easier to identify. This one is approximately 122mm long. I think it's a long bone, but can't identify the actual bone itself - if that makes sense?

Hi. So, I have a couple of pieces of animal bone that I cannot identify - I feel like I should know what they are but just can't quite put my finger on it. They were located in Lincolnshire, England, and I'm after the type of bone they are and possibly the animal - although large (cattle sized), medium (sheep sized) or small (rabbit sized) would also work for what I need them for. I will post each individual bone in a separate post to make it easier to identify. This is approximately an inch long. Ignore the writing on the side as bone marking is to make sure we know which collection it came from.

Hi. So, I have a couple of pieces of animal bone that I cannot identify - I feel like I should know what they are but just can't quite put my finger on it. They were located in Lincolnshire, England, and I'm after the type of bone they are and possibly the animal - although large (cattle sized), medium (sheep sized) or small (rabbit sized) would also work for what I need them for. I will post each individual bone in a separate post to make it easier to identify. This one is approximately 74mm long. I initially thought it could be a rib, but now I'm unsure.

Hi. So, I have a couple of pieces of animal bone that I cannot identify - I feel like I should know what they are but just can't quite put my finger on it. They were located in Lincolnshire, England, and I'm after the type of bone they are and possibly the animal - although large (cattle sized), medium (sheep sized) or small (rabbit sized) would also work for what I need them for. I will post each individual bone in a separate post to make it easier to identify. This one is approximately 45mm long. Please forgive the photos being taken in two different locations - I realised the initial ones on the scales were not showing enough of the bone itself. I think it's possibly a joint of some kind?

Hi. I'm currently on holiday in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England and I have found this vertebrae on the beech. It's maybe 1.5cm in diameter. I believe it to be ichteosaur but I was wondering if anyone could clarify? Also, it appears to be missing a portion, would this likely have occurred pre or post fossilisation?

Hello, I bought this ichthyosaur vertebra at a gem show the other day and I was hoping that some one might be able to help me identify where in England it might have come from or even if they might know what genus it might be so I could make a more detailed label for it. Thank you for your help more angles of the vertebra

Hi all, Went to a beach in Somerset, England, and found this on the beach. Is this a fossil and of so what is it a fossil of? Thanks

I've spent a fair amount of time now combing the beaches around Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England, and thought i would put together a topic that presents all of my marine reptile bone finds (so far) in one place. The fossils here are Early Jurassic in age, approx. 195-190 million years old and come predominantly from the Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone formations. I first visited this area in 2013 with the simple goal of finding at least one ichthyosaur vertebra, and now after three subsequent trips in 2014, 2017 and 2019, i've put together a far better assortment of finds than i could have possibly hoped for! I think i have been quite lucky along this coastline, although it has taken many hours to amass this collection. Across all four of my England trips i have spent a total of 18 days looking for bones in the Lyme Regis area, most often on the stretch of beach between Lyme Regis and Charmouth but sometimes at Monmouth Beach as well. This coastline also produces a large quantity and diversity of ammonites, belemnites, crinoids, bivalves, brachiopods, gastropods, and even rare insects. However i've always been most interested in fossil vertebrates, and so the ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs that are found here have been my primary target for collecting. There are also some impressive articulated fish to be found, but as yet i have had no luck in finding any! Ichthyosaur bones are the most common type of vertebrate fossil in the area, particularly their bi-concave vertebrae. Less commonly you can also find pieces of the jaw, sometimes with teeth. If you are extra lucky though you may also find plesiosaur bones, which for whatever reason are much rarer than those of ichthyosaurs. The best way to find any type of marine reptile bone around Lyme Regis is to closely examine the shingle on the beach, and i've spent seemingly countless hours bent over and slowly walking along the shore looking for them. If you have a bad back it's even more difficult! I've learnt that bones can be found pretty much anywhere on the beach: in the slumping clays, at the top of the beach in the 'high and dry' shingle, along the middle of the beach, at the low tide line, and also underwater amongst the rocky pools and ledges. And just when i start to think that the beach has already been heavily searched and there isn't much left to find, there always seems to be another bone that turns up, often lying in plain sight. The truth is that most people who visit here to collect are not experts and will probably walk past a lot of these bones, as the texture is the most important thing that gives them away and learning to recognise it takes a bit of time. For the sorts of articulated skeletons that sometimes make news headlines and are beautifully intact, searching the shingle is not the way to go, but for a short term visitor like me i think it is the best way of maximising the chances of finding any sort of reptile bone in the shortest amount of time (and something i can take back with me on the plane too!). Without further ado, here are the pics (spread across multiple posts due to file size limits). I've also included as-found pictures for some of these finds to provide a sense of what they look like and how they are found when they are on the beach. The collection so far. Starting first with my favourite Lyme Regis fossil, this is a very nice plesiosaur vertebra that is in great condition! A very rare find! I have been very fortunate to find two plesiosaur vertebrae at Lyme Regis so far, although this one is smaller and more beach-worn than the previous example. Continued below.

Hello, I’m wondering if this is actually a Baryonyx vertebra. It was found in Wealden formation, Sussex England.

Good morning, I was searching the beach and found these! Please could you help me identify whether these are fossils or not? I'm an amateur so I don't have any tools. I've also added at the bottom some pics of ammonites and a belemnite I found

Good day all, hope everyone is well and having a great day. To start, I have absolutely no clue about anything fossil related. I was just curious as to what this was, there isn’t anything big and scary in England with teeth this large so it’s just strange to me, it’s probably nothing so I am sorry if it’s obvious. It was found on a beach that fossil hunters say is fairly notorious for just sharks teeth but even I know this isn’t from a shark. Thank you for any help

Hi. I work in a garden centre. We have spotted this on one of the slabs we sell and we were wondering if it was a fossil. If so, what is it?

I found these two stones on a beach on the southern coast of England, and they seem to have fossils embedded in them. I'm not sure what they could be, can someone here help me identify them?

Hi there, I would like any help on identifying this potential fossil I found. It was found in West Midlands of England, UK. I don't live near the ocean however this was found amongst a pathway covered in pre-destructed rocks so it may explain the displacement. As you can see, it appears quite mollusc-like and it has tiny bristles on the right hand side, almost saw-toothed at the edge. It also can be seen with a bottom layer with appears on the left hand side of the rock. It is striped and has red speckles at the edge. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm quite inexperienced in this field at the moment. Thanks in advance!

Went to Ruxton England looking for my own mammoth. Brought home some large rocks instead. Not sure what to make of the orange inclusion in this piece of flint. The whole flint is about 3 by 5 inches with multiple rough spotty enclusions There is significant discussion as to what these flints represent, one concept involves the death and collapse of glass sponges as in: https://www.flint-paramoudra.com/flint-nodules.html Is it a dying glass sponge, a worm and worm burrow, or something else entirely. Help will be appreciated, thanks

I was just milling about, splitting Cotswold stone, when this caught my eye. In my swimming seas of gastropods, echinoids, crinoids, brachiopods, and bivalves, I've never come across anything like this! If anyone could shed some light, I would be much obliged. Early Oxfordian in ages, found in the Ancholme group. Around it were these fragmented plates of molluscs. It looks like a crushed stem of perhaps a crinoid? If it requires better photos, I can crack out the old camera and take a few! Cheers, Isaac

Hiya everyone I recently purchased this trilobite from Dudley, any help with the species and help with the other species on the matrix would be great, thanks.

Hi all! Most of you will know me as an invertebrate person, but, recently, I found something that may change my view! I was splitting some Jurassic Cotswold limestone, and I found a tooth. A tiny tiny tooth, which I believe to be a shark(?). In other chunks of the matrix, I found scales, and other hints to vertebrate life. It heavily fluoresces under UV light, and has these gorgeous lines along the flat crown. To the bottom right of the tooth, there is a partial mold of a brachiopod, which is pretty cool! Ancholme Group, Callovian - Oxfordian (166.1 - 157.3 mya). As a sister question to the ID, I would like to know if I should dissolve the rest of the matrix I found it in, to find more teeth from the same creature? If anyone could help with either question, I would be much obliged! Thanks all!

Today is my 50th birthday so I wanted to select my fifty favorite fossil finds to present. But....because I am obsessive, I couldn't settle on just 50. So here's 150. My favorite 150 fossil finds. And there's still more - but then it would be 250 or 555...I don't know. Anyways, enjoy. Mostly Texas, some from Utah, Florida, North Carolina, New York and England (denoted by the state initials or UK). Almost all were found by me, except about 4 which were gifted to me. I did actually narrow it down to 50...initially. But then I had to do pages for the rest of them because I didn't want them to feel left out....