Of fossils, and more fossils.
Lavernock Point is located a little to the West of Cardiff, at the edge of the mouth of the Severn. It's a small place that attracts an inordinate number of fossil hunters, due to its more-than-generous supply of fossils. It is formed from layers of Blue Lias limestone and shales, and contains many fossils dating back about 300 million years. Fossils include bones or teeth from reptiles such as ichthyosaurs (looks like a large fish with a bottlenose) and plesiosaurs, coprolites (fossil dung), and shells, including some of the best examples of ammonites in vast quantities. The cliffs are not exactly stable, especially given the extreme effects of the second highest tidal range in the World, and each fossil cannot last much more than a few years from initial exposure to complete destruction.
If you are interested in fossils and you live close enough, then stop looking at this gallery, and get down here to look for yourself; part of the fun is hunting for these things. If you are interested in fossils but are not able to get down here to look for yourself, then that is what this gallery is for. As a result, this is a fairly complete gallery - complete in as much as it shows the vast majority of fossils or impressions we saw on our short visit, except for shells because there were literally millions of rocks with shells embedded within them, and they got quite monotonous. Of course, if you don't like fossils, then this gallery will probably be immensely boring. Perhaps you can find another gallery on this site that will interest you.
Lavernock Point.
The advancing cliffs slowly undercut the caravan park above.
The fossil beds continue into St Mary's Well Bay, where the main feature is Sully Island, with its 3000 year old fort.
The stepped beds rising from the ...er... sea bed. The majority of the ammonite fossils are located in these beds.
Bedrock.
Edge of an ammonite negative (impression).
Very good quality positive.
Negative fragment.
Protruding positive.
Remnant.
Partial nagative.
Complete negative, almost eroded away completely.
Very good negative, one of the best preserved negatives we found despite being just 5 cm across.
Positive fragment.
Negative edge.
Mostly complete positive.
Remnant.
Negative fragment.
Barely perceptible negative.
Positive and negative.
Positive and negative with surface detail lost.
Barely perceptible negative.
Negative fragment.
Negative fragment.
Positive fragment.
Partially erupted positive - in a year this will be a great fossil.
Negative ring.
Negative impression.
Negative impression.
Negative impression.
Negative impression with hand for scale. This shows the typical size of the fossils.
Double negative.
Negative ring.
Partial positive.
Fairly good negative.
Emerging positive.
Positive remnant.
Positive remnant.
Positive remnant.
Emerging positive.
Broken negative.
Positive section.
Partial positive.
I think this is a coprolite. However, having not knowingly seen one before, it could be absolutely nothing.
The tiny ripples are plant impressions.
Plant impressions.
More plant impressions and what looks like a worm cast.
Fossil tree trunk.
A fern leaf, I think.
Possibly plant stems, but also could be coral.
Supposedly this area has some plesiosaur vertebra, and I am hoping this is one of them. Either that or a fairly unique arrangement of shells in an area with no other shells. It is about 10 cm across in either direction.
Rock bubbles?
Possible bone.
Possible bone.
Possible bone.
Big and pointy. Too big to be a tooth. Perhaps it is just an inverted shell.
Geode with well defined crystals.
Geode with broken crystals.
Multiple geodes.
Looks like the back of an oyster.
Shell surface.
Typical mashed shells in the rock.
Mashed shells.
Shell textures.
Mashed shells.
Mashed shells.
Scallop.
Mashed shells.
Texture.
Limpets.
Shell.
Mashed shells.
Surface texture.
Surface texture showing some plant fibres.
Scallop.
Shell ridges.