Join Us for Some Wonderful Geology Walks this Sunday 7 November
As part of this year’s Virtual Festival of Geology, the GA will run 3 Urban walks in the London area and we’d love you to join us. All 3 walks begin at 11am and will be half-day trips on Sunday 7th November 2021. Tickets cost £5 per person and booking is essential so hurry to book your places! If you can’t join us on these walks, the same link will take you to Walks around the Country that are being organised by our Local Groups and...
Tickets are now available for the FREE vFestival of Geology 2021
Please book to join Rockwatch at the vFestival of Geology 2021 on Saturday 6th November. Tickets are completely FREE! Just head on over to the Eventbrite site and choose which tickets you’d like entry into: various breakout discussion rooms a number of live talks the Discovery Room Activities including Rockwatch’s Passport Challenge!...
Michele’s Calcite Crystals from Lulworth Cove
This week’s fabulous find was discovered by young geology enthusiast Michele from iconic Lulworth Cove in Dorset on the Jurassic Coastline. Sending in details about her specimen for further investigation, Michele wondered if her rock might be fossilised wood, grass or plant matter. Rockwatch Ambassador Michael explains that clues to its form lie in its fibrous appearance as well as its location. Resembling the fibrous texture of beef,...
Save the date for vFOG 2021!
Save the date and join us on 6th and 7th November for this year’s Virtual Festival of Geology which will take place online at www.festivalofgeology.org.uk. The event will be a totally Free Virtual Geology Experience for all the family where you can: Sit in on live talks and go shopping at the virtual stalls. Explore virtual exhibitions from museums and local groups. Get involved in the interactive Discovery Room and take part in...
Lana’s Nodule of Marcasite
On a recent walk in Dorset, Lana stumbled across an unusually hard and heavier than normal stone and wanted to find out more about it. Sometimes mistakenly thought to be meteorites, Rockwatch Ambassador Mick is confident that Lana has found a nodule of marcasite. Evidently typical to the Child Okeford area of Dorset thanks to its chalk deposition, Lana’s specimen of marcasite is formed of characteristic rounded bumps and if it was...
Katie’s Belemnite Bullet
Often found digging in the gravel at home, Rockwatcher Katie has discovered that her fabulous find is a Belemnite, a bullet-shaped part of an extinct squid that thrived in our ancient seas. Rockwatch Ambassador, Michael, confirms that Katie’s fossil, “is a piece of fairly large Jurassic Belemnite”. So, what’s a Belemnite? Belemnites were an extinct marine animal that looked very like a modern-day squid except that they also had an...
Spacescapes: Postcards from our Solar System
Rockwatchers there’s a free outdoor planetary science exhibition taking place this Saturday 2 October between 12pm-3pm at the Geological Society’s HQ at Burlington House Courtyard, Piccadilly, London. The exhibition, called Spacescapes: Postcards from our Solar System, explores the mysteries of space and why geologists make such great space explorers. Why not pop along and discover some of these mysteries for...
Your Rockstar Competition Entries are In!
Thanks for sending in your wonderful Rockstar competition entries. Many of you have clearly been very busy over the school holidays and once again have impressed us with your knowledge, creativity and imagination. We’re busy judging entries at the moment and will be announcing winners...
Solving the Mystery of Piotr’s Crystal Rock from Herne Bay
Rockwatcher Piotr was intrigued to learn more about the mixed-looking rock he found at Herne Bay East Cliff Beach in Kent, England. Describing the rock itself as ‘unusual’ and the location of the find as a bit of a ‘mystery’, Rockwatch Ambassador, Michael pieces together a number of clues to help identify the rock and its possible origins to help solve the mystery. Michael’s approach to identifying Piortr’s rock is rather like a...
Ancient sea predator had giant head
It’s not every day that scientists are lucky enough to discover a brand new species let alone new genus – or category of living things which share common characteristics. So when they do, there’s understandably a bit of a buzz around the story. Science writer, Rachel Fritts reports that findings of a brand new ancient sea predator have been unveiled with a massive head which would have ruled the bottom of the oceans...
Miriam’s Fascinating Flint Finds
Rockwatcher Miriam’s two flint fragment finds are the focus of the latest Fabulous Find feature. The first fragment, found in Bedford near Pavenham looks rather like fossilised fish scales, but Rockwatch Ambassador Michael has different ideas based on his knowledge of the geology of Bedfordshire. The area is north of an area called the Chalk Scarp where an abundance of flint is typically formed from chalk, accounting for its lightness...
Joshua’s Sea Snail on the Sea Shore
Fossil finder Joshua found this wonderful shell on a recent trip to the Barton Beds at Barton on Sea, in the south of England and sent in his find for identification. It turns out that the Barton Beds – as they are known – are home to more than 600 species of shells! Fossil hunters flock to the Barton Beds because it’s known to be a rich source of Gastopods, molluscs and sharks’ teeth so visitors are likely to go home with a fossil...
Rockstars Competition Deadline is Tomorrow!
Remember it’s the Rockstars Competition 2021 deadline for sending in your entries by close of play tomorrow – the 8th September 2021. So, dot those ‘i’s’ and cross those ‘t’s’ – save and click send! We’re looking forward to receiving your hard work and enjoying reading and seeing what geology topics you’ve brought to life. We absolutely love receiving every single...
Could Ben have Discovered a New Carboniferous Crustacean Species?
On a recent family field trip to Berwick-Upon-Tweed in Northumberland, Rockwatcher Ben unearthed not one but two fossil finds from the same boulder. The first of these, probably a tooth, is fairly typical of the kind of fossil found on Northumberland’s beaches. With the geology of Berwick-Upon-Tweed being formed of Carboniferous rocks mostly comprised of sandstone and limestone, this area is known for brachiopods, crinoids, corals and...
Get your Rockstar 2021 Competition Entries in!
With more than a week left before the competition deadline, there’s still plenty of time for you to send us your geology inspired projects. Perhaps you’ve visited the Jurassic Coastline or one of the UK’s mountains ranges, or you’ve enjoyed a trip to a museum or visitor centre and found out about an area of interest. Maybe you’ve added some interesting rocks or fossils to your collection and have found out more about them. Whatever...
Freya’s Dinosaur Bone Discovery at Compton Bay
Famed for its huge dinosaur footprints at low tide, Compton Beach on the Isle of Wight is something of a fossil hunter’s pilgrimage seeing thousands of amateur and professional geologists every year. So, it’s perhaps not surprising that Rockwatcher Freya, who was holidaying with her family, found a dinosaur bone fossil on her recent visit given that the Isle of Wight – or Dinosaur Island as it’s become affectionately known – is home...
Thomas’s Lancashire Limestone Finds
Have you ever noticed that things in the natural world often adopt other names because they look like something else? For instance, the dramatic flame-filled Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan is also known as the ‘Doors to Hell’, because this huge gas-filled crater is constantly burning and looks like many through history have depicted the entrance to Hell. These alternative names can help us to understand more about physical...
Want to be a Rockstar 2021?
Looking for a fun activity to fill the holidays? Why not take part in this year’s Rockstars Competition – you might just become one of our Rockstars of 2021! If you’ve had the opportunity to visit the seaside or other parts of the countryside since you broke up from school you may well have been inspired by the geology around you. Or, perhaps you’ve lost yourself in a good book, a museum collection or film learning more about a...
Issue 88 of the Rockwatch Magazine: published August 2021
Issue 88 Contents List: published Aug 2021 CAPTURING GEOLOGY IN PHOTOS Image 1 of 7 HOW TO TAKE BETTER GEOLOGICAL PHOTOS CAPTURING GEOLOGY IN PHOTOS Tips on getting the best images FOSSILS IN HERALDRY Fossils embedded in public life VOLCANO TRAVELLER An adventure through the Americas JURASSIC DISCOVERIES Magic moments of fossil hunting ALL ABOUT GEODES What they are, what’s inside them ON TOR Geology of Dartmoor’s tors and...
Aria’s Litter Picking Leads to First Fossil Find and now she’s Hooked
Getting the fossil hunting bug can happen quite by chance as Aria discovered. Earlier this year, Aria was out being a litter picking hero in her local community of Haddenham in Buckinghamshire when she came across a fossil. Being curious about her first fossil find, Aria got in touch with Rockwatch to find out more about it and we’re thrilled that this led to her joining Rockwatch and exploring her newfound interest in geology...
A Dry Stone Waller’s Perk of the Job – Finding Fossils
Sometimes finding fossils can be a perk of the job. As a professional dry stone waller you work with different types of natural stone to shape them to fit together to create walls. It’s a very old tradition which dates back several millennia and it’s a profession that is on the rise again. By shaping rocks, the chances of finding fossils are pretty high, depending on where the rocks come from. Otis’s fossil was found this way by his...
Oliver’s Fossil Find
Oliver recently discovered a fossil whilst exploring the Lea Quarry on the Wenlock Edge in Shropshire, which is a popular Rockwatch fieldtrip location and sent this fabulous find in to ask for help in identifying it. We’d love to go back there again with Rockwatchers as soon as it is safe for us to do so! Already knowledgeable about the local geology of the area and keen to understand what he had found, Oliver explained,...
Please join the GA Zoom workshop on Geological Collections
Virtual Zoom Meeting Saturday June 19th 2021 from 7pm-9pm Please join the GA Zoom workshop on Geological Collections. Presented by Dr Caroline Buttler and a team from National Museum Wales in Cardiff. Collecting rocks and fossils often sparks an interest in geology, whether it is as a child or an adult, the questions raised about Deep-time and how things were in the past fascinate us. Geological collections are found in many of our...
Fabulous Finds is Launched!
Rockwatch is excited to launch Fabulous Finds! If you love fossil, rock or mineral hunting then you’re going to love our brand new fabulous finds section! Here you’ll find our fossil identification form where you can send us photos and details about what you’ve found, and we’ll write back with our thoughts on what you’ve unearthed. In this section you’ll also be able to dig deeper and find details...