Trip to Skye (Scotland)

[Everhardus]

This summer I was on holiday in beautiful Scotland.

Of course we were in the highlands and saw countless lochs and castles, but we had also booked a week on Skye.

 

This holiday was not planned as a fossil trip but knowing that Jurassic finds are possible on Skye I couldn't resist visiting a site I had heard about. Bairreraigh Bay is known for the beautiful Ludwigia ammonites that can be found there. Given that the coast here is slowly eroding, especially compared to the Dorset or Yorkshire, the chance of material recently falling from the cliffs is not very great.

 

After we reached the beach via a steep path, this unfortunately became apparent. A lot of rolled material that had been there for a very long time and only sporadically small chunks in which ammonites were visible. Unfortunately, we could not find larger blocks of the right layer in which finds can be spectacular. Occasionally large ammonites that had already mostly been worn away by the sea.

Belemnites can also be seen regularly, quite large too..

 

Despite the poor finds, I look back on the trip with pleasure, the coastline of Skye is spectacularly beautiful.

Greets, Marcel

 

 

[mighty micraster]

Still some very nice ammos.

I would have loved to find even them!

[TqB]

A beautiful place and fossils. The large belemnites are Megateuthis. :)

[Ludwigia]

Hi Marcel. Glad to see that you had a nice holiday in such a wonderful setting. I'd love to get there sometime myself also. And your finds don't look all that bad at all.

[digit]

My wife and I made it to Skye as part of a Highlands and Islands tour of Scotland back in 2010. We made our way down to the same beach along that steep patch. Sadly, we didn't have a local guide or good knowledge to know where to look among the rocks. I believe the tide might have been in as well which limited the rocks exposed. Poked around for 40-50 minutes and made the climb back up. Looks like we were in the right area but were just clueless and didn't find anything. Still, we enjoyed the scenery on Skye and hiked up to the Old Man of Skye and many other beautiful spots on Harris/Lewis and all the way out to St. Kilda. Gorgeous country and wonderfully friendly locals--well worth a revisit.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken