Start time: 10:30
Weather: Non-stop rain
One of my other geological interests are trilobites. I have a small collection of around 20 of them, but I've never found one myself due to bad luck and living over 200 miles from the nearest trilobite locality.
So I was pleased to find out that UKAFH (UK Association of Fossil Hunters) were organising a trip to Wren's Nest which is known for trilobite finds.
UKAFH is a group of enthusiastic amateurs who want to make geology accessible to all, regardless of their knowledge. They run a large number of events around the UK every year.
The rocks at Wren's Nest are 426 to 423 million years old from the Upper Silurian. At that time, Britain was south of the equator and a marine environment. Wren's Nest represents a thriving, coral reef ecosystem with colonial and solitary corals, brachiopods, bivalves, sponges, crinoids, gastropods, bryozoans, nautiloids, and trilobites.
The layers of rocks have been tilted spectacularly and the top most (youngest) bed forms a steeply sloped cliff that clearly shows ripples across it's entire surface.
More info here and here.
I had to make a 440 mile roundtrip for this one, and it rained pretty much the entire day. When I got there, I met with 25 other people including the 2 leaders, Terry Newsome and Lee-Anne Collins. The latter a great job of explaining the geology, brought sample specimens along to show people what they should be looking for, and generally identifying whatever people brought to them.
We had 2 to 3 hours there, looking through the scree (No hammers allowed, so no attacking the rockface!), and there were LOTS of fossils. Brachiopods, corals and crinoids were common place. Some sponges too. And the rest had to be worked at. I even managed to find my first ever trilobite! Sadly it was only a head but I was happy.