|
|
YOUR experiences, reports and comments of Weymouth |
|
(Scroll to bottom to post your own Reports or Comments)
|
Robert broughton - 22/9/07 |
I got the bus from Shaftesbury at 9:20 this morning, and arrived in Weymouth at 10:50. I decided first to visit the Cliffs just east of Weymouth, about 15 minutes brisk walk from the beach front. Most of these deposits are Jurrassic clays capped with ollitic sandstone, becoming solid sandstone further east. The area is currently a baked hard mudslip requiring nothing more than a multi tool blade to prise out the deeper buried specimens. The slip is very easy to venture onto, and at the moment is very stable, - but I wouldn't want to do and collecting up here as it it gets colder and wetter. Two complete bivalves of the species Lucina minuscula formed the first finds, each being picked off the surface of the slip. Both have each shell half preserved, although one specimen shows cracks from when the slip moved into it's current position. The shells of the oyster Gryphea (Cf dilatata?) are very abundant, up to three inches across, but most are only broken portions. The larger shells are definately badly affected by the slip moves with only two being found intact (out of approx 30 - 40). One is a complete Ostrea, again with both valves intact and 4 inches across, found on the surface of the mudslip. The other is a presumed Gryphea upper valve and half lower, 6 inches across. This specimen was spotted with only the bottom edge showing, and I attracted a small crowd of onlookers as I crouched on the slip scrapping away the mud around it. after 10 minutes I threw caution to the wind and wiggled it free before wapping it up in yesterdays Gaurdian. (Well, I guess that particular paper does have a use after all!). Other finds included a 1cm ammonite and a couple of white worm casings. Several Torquirhychia brachiopods were found, always a favourite of mine with their angry, spiky look - but all were broken. It seems this is another species that doesn't survive the Cliff slips very well. A brief inspection was made of the Oolitic sandstones, but I lacked and heavy equipment and didn't waste my time. there are some very nice shelols on the fallen blocks if anyone cares to take a hammer and chisel with them.
I left Furze Cliff after an hour and a half, taking with me 7 of my best finds and several large Gryphea shells. These ended up being donated to a group of people I got chatting with on the coast path, after I assured them I had more rocks than I could possibly need and that their grand children were quite welcome to them.
I ignored RedCliff point due to the narrow beach and being unsure of the tide times, instead walking on to Osmington Mill. Here my lack of hammer prevented me from collecting any nodules, and I focussed instead on the small Rhynchonella brachipods and ended up with twelve nice examples. After a slightly longer walk back (the bag was feeling heavy!) I arrived in Weymouth and had a well earned bag of fish and chips on the stone break water, whilst spotting various shells in the Portland stone blocks.
All in all a good day with several specimens to clean off.
|
|
|
|
|
