No. 26 hunt for fossils and bones

Journey back in time

'Making any collection is fun, and your first fossil find may be the start of a journey taking you to all sorts of exciting places,' says Chris Stratton, our learning officer in the Shropshire Hills.

'The young Charles Darwin loved collecting beetles. With fossils you are collecting objects that could be millions of years old, embedded in materials that were created in tropical or Antarctic seas, which ended up here - which is incredible.'

Fossil hunting kit

There are both indoor and outdoor places where fossil-hunters can uncover ancient treasures, but there are a few things you should take with you to help in your search.

A fossil guide book can be helpful if you want to see what the whole fossil and the original creatures looked like.

 'People often only find bits, so this helps you to relate your fossil to a wider history,’ says Chris. Take a magnifying glass (5x or 10x magnification is best for fossil hunting) and an old toothbrush (handy for brushing off mud).

Don’t forget your camera. In protected areas you can't take fossils away with you, but photographs can always be added to your collection.

Please do not take any hammers with you as you could damage fossils or, in the worst case scenario, cause precarious cliffs to crumble.

Dos and don'ts

Fossil hunting is fun, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind. For example, you must never try to remove fossils from cliffs and it’s always best to go collecting on a falling tide to ensure that you don’t get caught out by the sea.

It is not a good idea to go near the sea or cliff-edges, especially in high winds and stormy weather. 

A few rules fossil hunters need to follow:

• As long as you’re not in a protected area, you can pick up small fossils that are lying around on the ground. Please don't remove any fossils from rocks or cliffs though. Large fossils are best left for all to enjoy.
• If you're lucky enough to make a rare find, please report it to museums or your closest visitor centre, and if you're in a Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI), please follow any rules they might have. They are there to protect geology for future generations.
• Finding fossils does require a bit of patience, so remember that you aren’t guaranteed to find anything and will have to look at rocks for more than a few seconds. 

Bring history to life

Illustrated books about dinosaurs are a great way to bring the past to life. Take along some paper and crayons, and you can take fossil rubbings. Or imagine and draw the creatures that left their traces in the earth.