Finally, I found the time to head to Peacehaven on a sunny day and low tide. I confess, I didn't find any great small sample to take home, but it is just amazing how the site is covered in gigantic sculpture-like ammonite fossils. They are, literally, all over the place. In a single place, you can find 6 or seven massive ammonite fossils being exposed and dissolved by the sea tides.
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| ammonite fossil |
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| fossil at Peacehaven |
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| stepping on an ammonite fossil |
They are all larger than 1m in diameter and have amazing textures and a round spiral shape that distinguish them from the other rocks.
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| towards friars bay direction |
Even more interesting, was the fact that there were many informative texts written with chalk on the concrete walls of the undercliff walk pathway, pointing to examples of fossils and rocks. It was, indeed, most educative, thanks to whoever wrote them, and the good weather that didn't wash out the texts before I had the opportunity to find them.
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| echinoid fossil |
As I do not have appropriate equipment to deal with hard rocks, I keep looking for easy targets in chalk pieces that fall from the cliff. This time, I found something special, if not for its kind, at least for the fact that this one was found whole.
The new object was another echnoid fossil, but this time, different from the previous ones I had found close to Brighton. Also, I found another echnoid on one of the beaches, well camouflaged among the other stones, this one was a flint echinoid (see last picture).
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| bottom view |
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| top |
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| side view |
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| diagonal vie |
Now, it is time to have a break, before my house gets overloaded with stones. Unfortunately, the equipment to cut stones costs quite a lot and I am not ready yet to take this so seriously. Nevertheless, I am very grateful for the experience and I hope I can cary on with new expeditions next summer.
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