In the end I found 54 fossils:
S.striata x36 (7 complete); G.heinzelini x15 (2 complete); P.rutoti x2; Eagle ray partial x1.
I went back to the area I was in last time out but it looked totally different in terms of the pebble patches. It looked like it had been scoured by a storm which had skewed the pebble size towards the larger end. That and the persistent wind made finding things quite tricky.
In the end I found 54 fossils: S.striata x36 (7 complete); G.heinzelini x15 (2 complete); P.rutoti x2; Eagle ray partial x1.
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Yes, I know you won't find Megs at Beltinge, but I thought there might be some interest in this paper anyway, as most shark fossil collectors find Megalodon teeth impressive. It's also a paper David J. Ward, who's helped me fact check my website, was involved in.
Was the Meg a much bigger version of the Great White, as most assume (including the experts), or did it have a different appearance? This paper is the latest, most thorough look at the evidence (including a partial skeleton of a Meg). The conclusion is very interesting. A perfect day for fossil collecting: Mild; not too windy; bright but overcast.
There were 30 to 40 other people on the shoreline, some to the west, around the 'Rand' and the rest to the east, where the shore curves outwards into the sea. I went for a spot just west of the latter, which turned out to be very productive. I decided to try out an idea I've had for a while now where, if you find a spot that's producing, look even harder. It seemed to pay off because, even though I never left a 3 metre square that day, I found 159 fossils. It's very tempting when I'm collecting to go with the easy wins and move on when they dry up but, in this case, I thought, if I've found several already in a small area, there are probably more, only a little less obvious. This seemed to be the case: I slowed my scanning down and focused a bit more, and they started turning up. Here, a suspicious looking point sticking out of the sand, there, the familiar 'U' or 'V' of a root. Finds: 115 S.striata (21 complete); 24 G.heinzelini (3 complete); 4 S.teretidens (all complete); 7 P.rutoti; 2 O.winkleri; 2 Otodus (1 complete); 2 Eagle ray partials; 3 Rabbit fish partials. Total = 159 Low Tide: 9:23am 0.2m
Weather: Overcast and cold. Pretty windy. Finds: 41 I went back to my favourite area in the east. Unfortunately, the most productive spots were still under water. S. striata x31 (8 complete); G. heinzelini x4; P. rutoti x2 ; O. winkleri x2; Otodus piece x1 (All complete); fish teeth x1. Low Tide: 9:04am
Weather: Overcast and cold. Not much wind. Finds: 160 This turned out to be a really good day for finding fossils: No sunshine, so no glare off the beach; and the best area, to the East, now cleared of the cover of sand that's hidden it for the last year or two. There were around 20 other people on the beach, most in the area mentioned above, but others were spread all along the shoreline. I started finding shark teeth the moment I began looking, and they kept coming at decent rate the whole time I was there. Finds: S. striata x110 (13 complete); G. heinzelini x24; P. rutoti x13 (3 complete); O. winkleri x6; S. teretidens x3 (All complete); fish teeth x1; Rabbit fish x1; Ray bar x1; Very small Palaeogaleus sp. (2mm) x1 (See below). My thanks to David Ward for identifying that last one. Total = 160 A bright, sunny day and almost windless. Sounds like perfect conditions for a fossil hunt but they weren't. I was getting a lot of glare off the pools of water and wet sand. Even with sunglasses, it was very difficult to see well, let alone focus. So it was very slim pickings: Just 8 very run-of-the-mill shark teeth.
For most of the time, I was searching just 200m East of the 'Rand'. In the end I gave up and went eastward to see how my old hunting ground was doing. The good news is that the obscuring cover of sand that was covering the most fossiliferous areas appears to be clearing. The bad news is that the newly exposed pebbles seem to have provided a lot of ready-made surfaces for seaweed to bind to. So, yet again, the pebbles are largely obscured. Arghh! Still, there's hope now. As Nick pointed out in one of his recent-ish comments, it's possible to find sections of crinoid stems at Beltinge (West of the Rand). Crinoids are related to starfish and are better know as 'sea-lilies'. The full animal really does resemble a flower (See image of one living example). Although many live/d fixed to the sea bed, others are/were free-floating. The one most commonly found at Beltinge, Isselicrinus subbasaltiformis, was free floating, and is found globally. They come from the London Clay, the formation above those we get our shark teeth from. They are round to hexagonal in section. A decent day, weather-wise for fossil hunting. Mild, not too windy, not too bright.
I headed for the group of rock-slabs to the east of the Rand this time and got a pretty good rate once I'd found the productive area. Finds: S. striata x48 (4 complete); G. heinzelini x15 (2 complete; P. rutoti x4; S. teretidens x2 (Both complete); fish teeth x2. Total = 81 Canterbury Council have decided to start charging for parking in the Reculver Drive car parks between April 1st and September 30th. There are no meters, so you will need a mobile to either pay by app (RingGo) or make a call to give card details.
If you have a Facebook account, try this link. They discuss and ID UK shark teeth.
A decent enough day weather-wise. I made for the west side of the 'Rand' as my first stop but it was slim pickings. So, I headed east for the spot with the large slabs of rock about 200m away. Much better for finding stuff. I noticed there are still people checking out the formerly abundant spots much further east. I might take a look myself next time out but I've a feeling it's still pretty poor - Hardly any of the pebbly patches you'd look for.
Finds (Total 64): 51 x S. striata (9 complete) 9 x G. heinzelini 1 x rabbit fish partial mouthpart 2 x P. rutoti 1 x I. affinis (Complete) Whales evolved from 4 legged land animals. This article demonstrates that.
Low Tide: 0.8m at 09:58
Weather: Cloudy with Sunshine, light wind Finds: 101 I went to the area just west of the the Rand first but soon gave up and moved to the area east of the Rand with all the blocks. Once again, the fossils were turning up in numbers. A good spot but it's quite narrow. Did some sieving but have yet to go through it. Finds (102): S. striata x75 (9 complete); G. heinzelini x 18 (1 complete); P. rutoti x 5; S. teretidens x 2 (both complete); 1 mystery fossil (Possible seed pod? Hope to provide a photo later). Low Tide: 0.5m at 09:31
Weather: Overcast but bright, light wind Finds: 125 The shore was already well exposed by the time I arrived at 8:45. Enough that I could see the Rand was no longer extending straight out to sea but had a dog-leg to it. Odd. When I got down to the shoreline, I headed for the location east of the Rand where there's a lot of large slabs of rock. It's my understanding that this spot is close to where the Beltinge Fish Bed crops out. This seemed to be confirmed when I started finding teeth at quite a decent rate. After a while, I was joined in the area by a lady and her two children. It turned out that they were down from London and were trying out fossil hunting for the first time. They'd found a few but wanted some help with where and what to look for. So I gave them a few tips and, happily, they began finding things at a faster rate. They even found some Eagle Ray and rabbit fish mouthparts after I'd shown them what they look like. They were obviously fast learners. The area was so good and produced around 1-in-5 complete teeth, that I will definitely be going back. Finds: S.striata x 83 (19 complete); G.heinzelini x 28 (3 complete); P.rutoti x 7; O.winkleri x 1 (Complete); Eagle Ray bars x 2; Rabbit fish mouthpart x 1; Turtle carapace (?) x 1. Low Tide: 0.6m @ 08:28 Weather: Sunny & windy Finds:60 I went back to the spot just west of the 'Rand' again. I say spot, but really it's a sizeable area. You appear to be able to find fossils anywhere in it. For a person who's used to looking for patches of pebbles to find fossils, this huge area that is nothing but pebbles, is a bit overwhelming. Where do you start? Answer: Anywhere. The strong wind out of the East was very annoying. Difficult to focus. I think that explains why I didn't get that many finds. Tried sieving the shelly patches further West but only found 2 teeth. One a beauty though (See photo below). Finds: S.striata x40 (5 complete); G.heinzelini x17 (1 complete); Otodus partial x1; Notidanodon partial x1; Eagle ray bar x1. Lingual, labial, and lateral views of a 1st lower anterior or parasymphyseal tooth (aka eye tooth) of either a Jaekelotodus robustus, G.heinzelini, or Sylvestrilamia teretidens which all look more or less the same. It has no striations, stitching or characteristic cusplets that might identify it as Striatolamia, Palaeohypotodus, or Odontaspis respectively. |
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March 2023
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