'Roarsome' discoveries on recent fossil hunt

Everything from shark teeth to giant ammonites discovered at Old Hunstanton beach.

Jamie Jordan, who runs fossil hunts, says his passion began when he was 4.  

“That’s when I found my first fossil walking along Skegness beach with my parents. I was one of those kids who was hugely into dinosaurs, and we came across a bit of rock with a footprint on it. So we took it to the Natural History Museum and it turned out to be a 120 million year old Cretaceous bird track.”

Jamie leading a hunt

He tells me all he’s ever wanted to be is a palaeontologist, and after achieving that he’s now determined to share his passion with others, having opened a museum called Fossils Galore in Cambridgeshire, which also runs educational trips - often to Hunstanton.  The famous cliffs of red rock and white chalk are, of course, rich in fossils.

“On our latest hunt at Old Hunstanton beach we found lots of corals, shark teeth, beautiful bivalves and brachiopods (a type of shell fish), ancient worm burrows, belemnites (dark squid), and sponges. All from the different layers in the loose rocks, and the star find of the day was a giant ammonite.”

Puzosia Ammonite

For those of you that don’t know ( I didn't) an ammonite is an extinct marine animal, related to modern squids and octopuses which lived in the world's oceans about 450 to 66 million years ago.

“The children love the hunting and it’s great to educate the next generation and perhaps any up and coming palaeontologists or geologists. When they come across something it’s like Christmas and birthday has all come at once, they’re very excited. We show them pictures of what the animal would have looked like.”

Cretalamna Shark Tooth

I admit to Jamie that to the best of my knowledge I’ve never come across a fossil - he has a few tips.

“Best advice is make sure you have the right tools, sometimes though you don’t need tools, you may be walking long the beach and be lucky enough to come across something that’s been weathered out.

“The best place to look is actually along the foreshore, look at rocks that have been washed away from the piles at the bottom of the cliffs, and look for any features that don’t look like the rock itself, a fossil will normally be jutting out of a rock."

“I absolutely love my job," he adds, "It’s just the best feeling, discovering something that’s been buried in the ground for thousands of years and unlocking its secrets.  I’ve found one in a supermarket car park before, in the gravel by a tree, so if you’ve got a gravel driveway - you may just find one.”

I shall be keeping my eyes peeled.

All images Fossils Galore.  For more information on the hunts: https://www.fossilsgalore.com/