Phew! We are all somewhat tired but very inspired by our long weekend in Lyme Regis, and some us have the sniffles from hanging about in the cold weather and doing too much talking! The Fossil Festival's own broadband was disconnected before I could update my blog on Sunday evening , so I am writing from the comfort of my office at the Museum.
Sunday was possibly the busiest day of the whole weekend! The sun came out and the weather warmed up, bringing in lots of visitors. Some of them brought yet more local fossils for us to identify - two that I remember were an uncommon Chalk sea urchin called Conulus, that I recalled seeing only once before many years ago, and a rather lovely black coprolite. Do you know what that means? It means 'poo rock', and it was probably produced by one of the Jurassic marine reptiles or fish whose skeletons are found in the rocks at Lyme. Its young owner was very pleased with himself! Here it is:
Coprolites contain the remains of meals - things like fish scales, bone fragments or whatever the animal had been eating. Cool eh?
Those of us that were staying until Monday were very kindly invited to join the fossil walk departing from Lyme Regis Museum at 11.30, led by expert collectors Chris and Paddy. They provided their own brand of lively fossil edutainment for over three hours, and the sun shone for most of that time!
We heard an explanation of the geology and palaeontology at this site, and before approaching the toe of the landslip, we were briefed on how to find fossils safely. At the end, Paddy split some nodules and gave all the youngsters an ammonite to keep. Apparently I wasn't young enough.
Do note that Paddy wears eye protection and uses a proper geological hammer. He still has both of his eyes and all of his fingers, and would like it to stay that way.
Maybe you were wondering what I found? Here is is. Can you guess?
Yes, it's another coprolite, but mine was left by a shark. They have a spiral valve in their intestine, which causes the poo to come out in a spiral shape, like a fat corkscrew. Or a 'Mr Whippy' as one lady said. Some people asked how I spotted it - I am not sure, but I do own a small dog... He wasn't with me on this trip though! (sorry Dookie, maybe next time).
All too soon, it was time to leave the beach but we are already looking forwards to the next Fossil Festival. I will leave you with a view of Lyme seafront and the huge festival marquee. See you there next year?
