A Guided Fossil Hunting Walk in Charmouth
Living on the Jurassic Coast, we have our favourite beaches for fossil hunting and although we have made some exciting finds, we have not really known or understood some of what we were looking at.
Last weekend we took part in a guided fossil hunting walk at Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre.
The two hour session started up at the Centre, where we got to explore some of the finds that have been made in this famous fossil hunting location and enjoy a 20 minute talk from one of the Centre Wardens, Ali.
Ali talked about the fossils of Charmouth, how and where to find fossils on the beach and showed us examples so we knew what we were looking for.
I was really impressed by how much knowledge the kids already had about fossils and Eliza proudly recited the poem “She sells sea shells” to the group, which is apparently based on Lyme Regis’ famous pioneering 19th Century paleontologist , Mary Anning.
The walks are timed perfectly to coincide with low tide and once the talk was finished, the group was given a safety briefing before heading out onto the beach with the wardens, Ali and Lester.
Our walk was the day after a rather large storm, so we were very hopeful that we would make some exciting finds, as the waves would have thrown up lots of shingle onto the beach and the rain would have shifted some from the cliffs.
We headed around 20 minutes along the beach, to an area where there was evidence of a cliff fall, with the kids collecting sea glass as we went.
Sebastian made the first discovery of the day with an ammonite and our finds came in thick and fast from there.
Sebastian was definitely the ammonite magnet, but we also found belemnites, coprolites, crinoids and trace worms.
Both our guides were amazing and on hand to help identify all our discoveries and break open the occasional rock with their specialist tools.
They positively encouraged us to ask lots of questions and show them finds that we were not sure of. Some of our finds were just rocks, but most were fossils in some form.
The great thing about fossil hunting in Charmouth, is that you can keep your finds and we came home with pockets full to the brim.
We stayed on the beach for a good couple of hours and I am confident that we can now visit other beaches and know where and what to look for.
The wardens also shared some of their favourite beaches for fossil hunting locally, with a few surprises. We have visited Ringstead Bay and Burton Bradstock before, but never found anything of interest so are now planning a return visit to see what we can find.
The other great thing about visiting a beach after a storm, is getting to see what has been washed up and the kids spend ages playing on a huge tree that was laying on the beach, roots and all.
Guided Fossil Hunting walks cost £8 per adult and £4 per child and are bookable at charmouth.org/chcc/. I would advise booking in advance as they get booked up quickly, especially during the school holidays.
There are also fossil walks that go from Lyme Regis and all over the Jurassic Coast.
Have you been fossil hunting with the kids before?
Sabina Green
My boys would love this, they love searching for fossils on the beach and have learnt about Mary Anning at school. What a beautiful place the Jurassic coast is! That seems like a good price for a guided tour.
michelle twin mum
It looks like you had a fabulous day for it and that is a great beach. So many wonderful finds, I bet your kids were over the moon. Mich x
Jon
Wow! This reminds me of growing up on the coast in Norfolk and doing things like this!
Heather
My daughters would love to go there! They are all about fossils right now!
Cristina Petrini
Certainly an original and different path that not only fascinates children, but certainly also makes adults learn a lot.
kumamonjeng
Seems like Sebastian has found so many treasure and I could see joy in his face.
Anosa
What an amazing adventure for the kids, I remember doing a similar walk years ago and we loved it.
Jenni
This sounds right up my street – I would love to go on a fossil hunting walk! I wonder where the nearest place to us is to do something like that.
Luna S
This looks like so much fun, this is something my family would love to do.
Catherine
I’ve never done this before but sounds like a really fun idea and the coast is absolutely gorgeous! Wonderful day out!
Ashley R
This is something my husband would love to do with our daughter. How neat.
Jess
How amazing is this!! I cannot beleive how much there is to see I find anything dealing with Jurassic to be fascinating so I would definitely love this!
Neha
Have heard a lot about the Coast and it looks amazing. What a fun activity to do- bet it’s so interesting for the kids too. Great way to be outdoors
Sarah Bailey
I love Charmouth! I can spend way to much money in the little shop and the museum upstairs is a nice place to have a nose (while grabbing a cuppa at the cafe).
I’ve never done one of the guided fossil tours there but it sounds like it can be such a fun way to find your own fossils.
Catherine
We were fossil hunting last weekend (Dec) on a beautiful calm sunny day. The cliff above fell and sounded like thunder as it toppled downwards.
We found prior to that an a few fossils that came home with us, very pleased with our treasures!