Want to find your own fossils?
Follow these guidelines to ensure you are prepared, safe & responsible while finding fossils.
Before you go
SPECIAL SITES
Some Yorkshire Coast locations have protected SSSI status for their geological importance and cannot be collected from. Map here
KIT
Pack for all weather – be warm, waterproof and set for safety
WEATHER AND TIDES
Check the forecast and tide times. Oncoming tide can rise > 1m per hour! Plan a trip around LOW Spring Tides only. DON’T GET CAUGHT OUT
SHARE YOUR PLANS
Never collect alone and always tell someone where you’re going, and when you’ll be back.
PHONE
Make sure your phone is fully charged, and know your signal blackspots.
APPS AND MAPS
In some places, you will not have reception. Use an offline map, or printed version.
While fossil finding
KEEP AWAY FROM THE CLIFFS
Yorkshire’s unstable cliffs kill people. Great fossils are found amongst the loose pebbles on the beach.
HAMMER SAFETY
Always use appropriate rock hammers & safety glasses. Don’t hammer bedrock – only loose stones. Hammering with others nearby causes injuries.
RESPECT WILDLIFE
Don’t disturb seals, sea-life, birds or plants and keep your pets on a lead around seals.
BE AWARE OF TIDES
Only venture onto the scar on a falling tide. When the tide comes in, so should you. Understand tidal cut-off points at each location. Understand Spring tides.
VALUE QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
Leave fossils for others to find and enjoy.
IN EMERGENCIES
Call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.
FOUND SOMETHING INCREDIBLE?
Significant scientific discoveries are still being made!
RECORD what you’ve found and its location as precisely as you can. Photograph and/or use a LIDAR scanner app.
REPORT your discovery to an accredited museum, paleontological organisation or one of our team
REFLECT If it’s safe, leave the fossil where it is, avoid doing anything that might damage it.
RESPECT The protected status of many sites. DO NOT hack bedrock or cliffs to get to a nodule or fossil.
