Excellent Lyme Bay Moonrakers have written a song about Mary Anning They’ll be performing at the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival 13&14 June See Fossilfestival.com Here’s the song on YouTube youtu.be/oNcIz0VwxVs?...

A Song For Mary Anning by The Lyme Bay Moonrakers

YouTube video by Lyme Bay Moonrakers

youtu.be

Finally finished this piece for Lyme Regis Museum . A Green Ammonite Nodule with lots going on and a very 3D aspect. Androgynoceras and Tragophylloceras. Jurassic: Pliensbachian Charmouth Mudstone Formation: Green Ammonite Member Stonebarrow, Charmouth, Dorset

My friend Riccardo found this on Friday and asked me to prep it. Finished it today so he could take it home with him. One of the best Metophioceras I have seen - even with ‘issues’. Normally these have no centre. Metophioceras cf caesar Blue Lias Fm Jurassic: Sinemurian Monmouth Beach, Lyme Regis

Finally prepared a pyrite ammonite I found exactly two weeks ago. Not the common Eteoderoceras obesum but the rarer Eoderoceras bispinigerum. Bed 94. Black Ven Marl Member. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. Jurassic: Sinemurian Foreshore Below Stonebarrow, East of Charmouth, Dorset.

Pinhay Bay to Lyme Regis - with Seven Rock Point in the middle of the picture. Taken at extreme low tide whilst out on the ledges fossil hunting today.

Sometimes it’s nice to get the beach to yourself 😁 A nice large Eteoderoceras, Oxynoticeras and Apodoceras were the rewards.

Have prepared one of the early Devonian fish fragments from Cornwall I found on Monday. It revealed a bit of a surprise. All of the specimens I have found from here are pteraspids but this appears to be a piece of a very large traquairaspid. Something new!

The Lands End granite - a megacrystic alkali rich granite. Large complex zoned orthoclase feldspar crystals in a quartz, biotite, orthoclase matrix. Boron in the melt led to tourmaline being a common accessory - often occurring as veins. All in the most beautiful locations

Looking at the Moho (Mohorovičić discontinuity). It’s been 33 years since I last brought Uni of Bristol undergrads to look at the Lizard ophiolite sequence. The far side of the bay are gabbro (oceanic crust) and the near side are serpentine (altered peridotite)

Prepared the ichthyosaur coracoid from yesterday. Shame it was a little damaged by the sea. Gumption Shale Blue Lias Formation Jurassic: Sinemurian Lyme Regis

Nice low tide today - could get a long way out and look back at Lyme Regis. Managed to find an Ichthyosaur coracoid and a lovely oyster xenomorph.

Today I finished prepping another specimen I found about 2 weeks ago. Xipheroceras ammonite about 12cm (4.5in). Not pretty but interesting geologically. The phragmacone is crushed and the centre is encrusted with Semuridia bivalves. Jurassic: Sinemurian: Obtusum Zone: Stellare Subzone.

Just finished preparing this 10.5cm (4.25in) Echioceras ammonite I found at Charmouth 10 days ago. They don’t come much better or bigger than this. Normally found as pyrite steinkerns this one has it’s calcite shell and comes from the Watch Ammonite Stone (Jurassic: Sinemurian: Raricostatum Zone)

Took some old friends for a quick walk at Charmouth yesterday. They are geologists so they didn’t mind. They found some nice pyrite ammonites and I found them a nice pebble with Echioceras ammonites for them to take home. As a bonus I got to see the new landslip - it’s a big one!

The Geology Collection at Lyme Regis Museum has been awarded the prestigious Designated Status by @artscouncilengland.bsky.social Only the 5th geological collection (south of Birmingham) in England and Wales to achieve this recognition. See the press release www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/designation/

Had a good find rummaging through a box of random pamphlets in a local second hand book shop yesterday. An original reprint of ‘Jack’ Callomon’s seminal work on Sexual Dimorphism in Ammonites. He was a chemistry lecturer at UCL but also an ammonite expert in his spare time. £4 well spent 😁

I explored the William Dickson Lang archive at @dorsetmuseum.bsky.social recently. Lang is one of my heroes. Amazing content and information on the stratigraphy of the Dorset Lower Lias in his field notebooks. A photo of him on the path to Stonebarrow just before his 86th birthday

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Big fall at Stonebarrow today. www.facebook.com/share/v/18Dv...

Just submitted a paper on some amazing new material from the Pliensbachian of Dorset tecently acquired Lyme Regis Museum. Here are a few highlights - 2nd complete Panniericidaris known. World’s oldest Crab and world’s oldest Ghost Shrimp.

Tom Pugh and I have had a couple of days down in Lyme Regis! Not beach weather but a relaxing break and a lovely visit to The Lyme Regis Museum where some of Mick’s amazing fossil collection is on display. ❤️