Terry Dactyll Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 I've got wet fossiling previously but yesterday there was exceptionally hard rain and even some money in my wallet needed drying out when I finally got home soaked to the skin...A nice warm bath and a bit of food and I was upto unloading the car... and throwing everything in the washer I was wearing as I got drenched...Even the dog was wincing at the rain and tended to shelter down wind from me for shelter to avoid taking the worst of it...These are obviously the back of the fossils and they will be prepped from the other side.... I managed to get a decent bit of rock with them so they can be sculpted into something interesting....The top one is in one of the narrower limestone bands in the cliff well round into Pinhey bay and I haven't spotted many in these layers previously whilst hunting there and this one although only having a thin calcite shell looks very promising (but dont count your chickens).... This was fresh washed out as you can see and much material was dropping whilst I was there, it was quite dangerous.... The second one landed in a bed of crinoid and I had to carry a larger rock back containing this to cut rather than risk smashing it open as the crinoid cements the rock together making it break where it wants to rather than where you want it.... Heres my finds for the day.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 I guess I got lucky when I was at Lyme a few weeks ago, nothing but sunshine Good on you for going fossil hunting anyway though, that's commitment! That looks like a big Ammonite alright! Hopefully it preps nice. Good luck! "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 22, 2013 Author Share Posted December 22, 2013 Yes you certainly did get lucky.... I just got another soaking today but not quite as bad....the dog remembered yesterday and got downwind of me in the shelter as soon as it started... I had a fossil wrapped in my coat in the rucksack to stop the chisels and hammer banging it so it took me a few minutes to get myself sorted when the heavens opened....I'm not sure if its commitment or fossil OCD... Theres a few I know suffer from it.... Thanks... Lets hope I can do them some justice when I get round to it...I do like prepping Nautilus... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagurus Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 You sure are determined to find those treasures. And your loyal dog too. I hope they prep out as beautifully as your other fantastic display pieces. I'm hoping to get to Lyme Regis sometime in the next couple of years. I've never been there, but recently got back into fossil hunting (after a short delay of about 50 years) when I read a novel about Mary Anning. I need to take a look at those cliffs for myself. In the sunshine. Start the day with a smile and get it over with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 22, 2013 Author Share Posted December 22, 2013 Pagurus... Thanks.... I will do my best.... Its always a good day when you come home with a nautilus I reckon....If you love fossils you will certainly love Lyme Regis and the quality of fossils you can find there... Everyone seems to come away with something which is amazing considering how many people are looking....Good luck on your adventure.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-tree Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I will look forward to seeing them prepped.Very stormy weather given for today in the south of the UK it should throw up a few fossils for xmas fossil hunts,though i hope it doesn't ruin xmas for some folk down there. John Be happy while you're living for you're a long time dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach Boy Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Steve .You don't notice the weather when you are finding the fossils , it's when you stop that you wonder what that wet stuff is running down the back of your neck and when you're back at the car and glance in the mirror to be faced by Ken Dodd that you realize it was also quite windy in fact gale force, but like you say a hot bath and you're good to go. Great find's Steve and looking forward to your stage prep photos if you have the time. Regards Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 I will look forward to seeing them prepped.Very stormy weather given for today in the south of the UK it should throw up a few fossils for xmas fossil hunts,though i hope it doesn't ruin xmas for some folk down there. John John.... Me to when I get chance.... Its blowing a hooligan as I type this I'm just weighing up if I can get out again collecting later if the dogs up to it.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 Steve .You don't notice the weather when you are finding the fossils , it's when you stop that you wonder what that wet stuff is running down the back of your neck and when you're back at the car and glance in the mirror to be faced by Ken Dodd that you realize it was also quite windy in fact gale force, but like you say a hot bath and you're good to go. Great find's Steve and looking forward to your stage prep photos if you have the time. Regards Dave Dave... '' Ken Dodd ''... That made me chuckle ....Your right there.... Thanks.... I will try and do some shots as we go... I'm spoilt for choice really what to start when I do find the time.... I found these 2 ammonites yesterday nestling against a fossil branch... Even though the branch has now disintegrated and all your left with is its 3D impression you can see the ammonites poking through the bark...I been expecting to find both together for a while as for some reason jurassic wood and ammonites seem to attract one another... Maybe empty shells and soggy wood have the same buoyancy and end up in localised spots...or the wood just acts as a dam to stop the shells as they rest against it....I do have an asty nestled in a fork of a branch from Lyme... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 I wanted to go collecting again today but the worst of the storm stayed until darkness so I missed out this time...I gave the Somerset find from yesterday a quick tickle with the air pen... Its difficult to appreciate what your looking at as its very 3D....if you imagine ammonites arranged around a fossil branch then your on the right track, but the branch has now disintegrated... some of the woody remains are there including a knot in the wood, but i had to excavate into this a little to uncover one of the shells... right in the eye of the knot a tiny ammonite has washed in...now the knot has gone and we have the negative, the ammonite stands up on a slight pyramid of wood... I hope the photos explain it better.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 What a curious and fascinating association! How common is the wood there? "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 Chas.... I see fossil wood remains quite frequently while out hunting the lower jurassic although most of the time it isn't worth collecting... Sometimes the remains can simply be a thin compressed carbon film squashed within a limestone bed or within the shale... very occasionally more 3 dimensionally preserved... or partially compressed as in the infamous ' Whitby Jet ' used in jewelry making... I dont pick may pieces up to be honest but heres a couple of bits I have in my collection.... I left this bit once and went back for it a few weeks later lol...a 3D piece from the Somerset coast showing signs of charring and demonstrates the rounded end and cracking you get typically with burnt wood... except its approaching 200 million years old so this indicates there were naturally forest fires during the lower jurassic... its a paleo-fashionable subject I believe at the moment with a lot of work being carried out in this area...I was informed the burning of wood makes it more stable by transforming decay-able molecules into pure carbon hence aiding preservation and perhaps pyrite or calcite grains fill the pore spaces to help maintain the 3D structural appearance....Forest fires were more common in the carboniferous with higher oxygen levels making it easier for fires to start... This one was a trade that I just couldn't resist... a Lyme Regis Asteroceras that has simply washed in and lodged within the fork of a branch of a tree presumably preserved in a ' woodstone ' so named due to the frequency of wood remains found within them...usually found under Blackven heading east towards Charmouth...I wonder if the branch simply poses a resting place for the shells to wash up against or things of similar buoyancy end up in the same place... Perhaps a bit of both... Its nice to finally get a Somerset example for the collection.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Good grief, those are big nautilus. Can't wait to see you work your magic. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Steve, I'm looking forward to your exquisite prep of the first large ammonite above. Your work is always a pleasure to see. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 24, 2013 Author Share Posted December 24, 2013 Good grief, those are big nautilus. Can't wait to see you work your magic. Me to & Thanks... I do remember being told about an 18 incher off this beach before I started collecting down Lyme... Now that would be a bigun... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 24, 2013 Author Share Posted December 24, 2013 Steve, I'm looking forward to your exquisite prep of the first large ammonite above. Your work is always a pleasure to see. John.... Thanks...Its only got a thin shell but from a layer not really wide enough to contain a nautilus so its a new layer for me to investigate with the airpen.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 This one was a trade that I just couldn't resist... a Lyme Regis Asteroceras that has simply washed in and lodged within the fork of a branch of a tree presumably preserved in a ' woodstone ' so named due to the frequency of wood remains found within them...usually found under Blackven heading east towards Charmouth...I wonder if the branch simply poses a resting place for the shells to wash up against or things of similar buoyancy end up in the same place... Perhaps a bit of both... 12477c024938ed879f4a569440ce95cf49af03e1.jpg Looks like it's sitting in an Adirondack chair. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 25, 2013 Author Share Posted December 25, 2013 Looks like it's sitting in an Adirondack chair. lol...Design in progress... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Hi Steve, I'm liking seeing your new finds! Also look forward to seeing that Nautilus all cleaned up. I got a real chuckle with you and the dog getting soaked in the rain--thanks for sharing that--I've been out in some stuff when I should have been inside! Fossiling can chill you for sure sometimes! During this past summer we were out at the coast shelling/fossiling and could see a huge band of rain coming fast and the wife and I got just a we bit wet as we ran for the car. The seagulls there in the parking lot where we were parked didnt seem to be phased by it all and simply took it all in stride---literally! Here's a still shot of them and the link of them marching in a single line past our car to somewhere unknown.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/106606211@N02/11552080486/. Maybe Chas can explain what the single line behavior is as they were walking directly into the wind and towards the beach not 20 yards of away instead of seeking any real cover nearby. Glad to see the latest you've hauled home. Wood/ammonite associations are really super. Congrats! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Hi Steve. I like that wood/ammonite association. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 26, 2013 Author Share Posted December 26, 2013 Hi Steve, I'm liking seeing your new finds! Also look forward to seeing that Nautilus all cleaned up. I got a real chuckle with you and the dog getting soaked in the rain--thanks for sharing that--I've been out in some stuff when I should have been inside! Fossiling can chill you for sure sometimes! During this past summer we were out at the coast shelling/fossiling and could see a huge band of rain coming fast and the wife and I got just a we bit wet as we ran for the car. The seagulls there in the parking lot where we were parked didnt seem to be phased by it all and simply took it all in stride---literally! Here's a still shot of them Laughing gulls in thunderstorm downpour Pinellas County Florida.jpg and the link of them marching in a single line past our car to somewhere unknown.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/106606211@N02/11552080486/. Maybe Chas can explain what the single line behavior is as they were walking directly into the wind and towards the beach not 20 yards of away instead of seeking any real cover nearby. Glad to see the latest you've hauled home. Wood/ammonite associations are really super. Congrats! Regards, Chris Chris.... Thanks and what a strange sight with the gulls... maybe they were slipstreaming.... I know the dogs natural instinct was to hide behind me... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 26, 2013 Author Share Posted December 26, 2013 Hi Steve. I like that wood/ammonite association. Roger.... Yes quite unusual to find although I have been close before, this is the first off this coast worth saving.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Excellent finds, Steve. Like what you did with the branch and ammos. Thanks for posting these - different to see the two together. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted December 27, 2013 Author Share Posted December 27, 2013 Hey Tim.... Thanks.... and glad you like it... It has already made the shelf.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miatria Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I'm a Florida fossiler, in the midst of my second year working the Peace River (just came to this wonderful pursuit at the age of 48). I just read about Lyme Regis and now I want to go! I'm looking for a lower cost winter flight but wondering if anyone who hunts LR has suggestions for budget accommodations. I'm a tough woman but I think camping in the winter is out. I would appreciate any info anyone could message to me! Your fossils are beautiful! Zookeeperfossils.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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