If you missed the Paleontology Study Group meeting last Saturday (or even if you did attend), Rhonda Gates wrote an excellent report on their trip to the North Yorkshire beaches in England last February. The full pdf file can be downloaded here.
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Ammonite Fields Forever:
From the Jurassic Coast to collecting on the beaches
of North Yorkshire, England
by Rhonda Gates
Once upon a time, just at the brink of an unfathomable and devastating year of death, anxiety, isolation and trauma caused by Covid19, four friends set aside their LRB hats for new hats: they became “Yorkies” and set out to collect fossils on the UK’s North Yorkshire Jurassic coastline generally and inclusively referred to as Whitby. This is the retelling of that adventure, “Ammonite Fields Forever: From the Jurassic Coast to collecting on the beaches of North Yorkshire, England” with Marie Angkuw, Deborah Lovely, Andrew Young and me, Rhonda Gates.
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The dreaming of this trip began on the flight back from Lyme Regis in early March of 2019. The actual planning for this adventure began a few weeks later in April, once the 2020 tide tables were published. We then spent the next 10 months locking in airfare, our airbnb, researching and purchasing gear, and reading every book and online site we could find. Friends in Lyme Regis had mentioned that it would be very strenuous, with at least one site requiring a rope to get down to and back up from the beach. However, our friends had seen us in action collecting at Lyme Regis and Charmouth, so they assured us we could handle it if we prepared for it. So the next 10 months were also spent “in Whitby fossil-hunting training mode” which required building up upper body strength and embracing every set of stairs and hill in our path.
On March 5, 2020, at the beginnings of rumblings about this new virus from China that had started to appear and sicken people in the US, the UK and beyond, with a bit of anxiety, hand sanitizer and masks in hand, we jetted off to Whitby.
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There are a number of fossil-hunting locations in North Yorkshire, but eight of them are generally recognized and close to Whitby. We chose to visit seven of the locations, all within a relatively short drive from our home base at the Airbnb in quaint and charming Whitby: Runswick Bay, Saltwick Bay, Robin Hood’s Bay, Port Mulgrave, Kettleness, Sandsend and Staithes. Dictated by the tides and our desire to be the first human eyes on each beach, generally before the crack of dawn, we would load all our gear and snacks into our little rental Yaris and head to a beach chosen the night before. (Ravenscar was discouraged because of the presence of potentially aggressive sea lions.)
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By far, our favorite locale and first beach to visit (and revisit two more times), Runswick Bay is known for finding ammonites, belemnites, sea reptiles, brittle stars, bivalves, crustaceans and plants. We did find ammonites, belemnites, bivalves and also jet! When visiting Runswick Bay, we had to allow a minimum of 2 days to collect because we could venture and spend the day either to the left or right of the entry point/boat landing.
Venturing to the right required a long walk to get to the areas of potential fresh fossils vs the sea-worn ones. Along the way to those areas, we would scour the piles of seaweed for random pieces of jet that might have been captured within the masses. Whenever we found a hard, black and shiny bit of matter, we would conduct a scratch test on a light-colored stone or pottery shard to determine whether it was jet or simply sea coal. A jet streak would be brown, whereas sea coal would streak black-ish. Most often, we found sea coal.
Although we found a few nodules containing ammonites, most often we found bivalves, belemnites and ammonites in situ on the beach to the right of the boat landing. We then had to carefully dig them out of the mudstone flats with hammer and chisel, battling in-coming tides and wind - did I mention the wind?! The surfaces we were walking on were so slick that, with the wind, often it was all we could do to stay upright on our feet, adding extra pleasure and relief when we found a fossil and a reason to not be standing or walking! I believe we all had much smoother skin, too, after that sandblasting wind ...
One note to add is that the beaches change daily or, more so, are continually changed by what the tides bring and take out. We heard over and over again that the days we were there were challenging due to the extra 3-4’ of sand brought in by the tides to this area.
The fossil hunting area to the left of the boat landing and sea defense was rockier but produced more ammonites found in nodules, as we had expected. After an on-site ammonite nodule “whacking” tutorial by one of the local fossil hunters, we were off and “running” which was actually a form of slip-sliding and picking our steps carefully across the seaweed-covered flats exposed by the receding tide.
In addition, the flats also reveal some glorious in situ belemnites with pyritized phragmocones and various flattened pyritized ammonites. Around each bend, we would find a rocky beach to comb for ammonites, with the hope of finding ichthyosaur remains. However, Deborah was the only lucky hunter in that department, finding a single vertebra on the last day on one of those beaches.
Interestingly, you can also find tumbled and weather bluish slag left over from a bygone era iron mine on several of these beaches.
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The Dean R. Lomax guide book A Photographic Guide to Whitby Fossils considers Saltwick Bay as one of the most productive locales, featuring the possibilities of collecting ammonites, nautiloids, belemnites, bivalves, crustaceans, fish, marine reptiles, plants, wood, and trace fossils (ie. the filled in cavities of lobster/crustacean burrows). “Productivity” was not our experience. However, we did find some ammonites and petrified wood.
Saltwick Bay did prove to push along our learning curve with the discovery of our first pyrite-covered nodule with ammonite fossils on the outside, not inside as one would normally expect. This discovery generated much discussion about its formation, in addition to its weight as an object that would have to return to the States in a suitcase with a weight limit.
Nevertheless, despite the apparent absence of marine reptiles, fish et al, any beach that features a shipwreck is bound to be at least intriguing, not to mention contain some stunning tidal pools.
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According to Lomax’s guide book, Robin Hood’s Bay is a famous beach for finding a relative variety of Jurassic fossils: ammonites, nautiloids, belemnites, bivalves, gastropods, brittle stars, crinoids, fish, marine reptiles, wood ... Once we parked our car in the requisite parking lot outside of the picturesque town of Robin Hood’s Bay, we walked down the very steep and winding main street to the boat landing where we then had to decide, right or left? Going to the left seemed an obvious choice due to the appearance of the cliffs we could see and also from what had been gleaned from a couple other books and websites.
After waiting a long time for the tide to recede enough to allow us get to the beach - always an unknown part of the equation when visiting a site for the first time - we discovered that there were indeed mollusks (tusk shells) and bivalves [scallops, oysters and gryphaea (also an oyster)]. Generally, the scallops and tusk shells occurred enmass, embedded in a layer with a very hard matrix and we were unable to extract them without shattering them. The gryphaea occurred embedded in the mudstone. Andrew was able to extract some with success.
In addition to a few small released ammonites, we also found petrified wood which was sometimes released and sometimes partially contained in nodules. Attempting to remove the wood from the nodules proved disastrous for the fossil, however. The nodule matrix was extremely “sticky”.
Robin Hood’s Bay’s most intriguing discovery was the persisting presence of ironstone “roundies”. Perfectly round brown ironstone spheres had accumulated between the crevices and in front of the larger boulders along most of the beach. Of course we collected some but only enough to whet our appetite for more when we return some day.
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Lomax’s book rated access to Port Mulgrave as “difficult” and it had an ominous reputation that preceded it: the rope “ladder”! However, if we were able to get to the beach, we were promised the opportunity to find ammonites, belemnites, bivalves, nautiloids, marine reptiles, fish, wood, trace fossils and plants. Or course, we had to check it out!
When we arrived, we actually found rudimentary but semi-hazardous steps described by Lomax as “a very long steep walk down to the beach via hundreds of irregular steps, which can be dangerous in poor weather”. They were worse than irregular, plus muddy and slippery. As we inched our way down the steps, another human being caught up with us, and we chatted a bit with her. The key take away from our conversation with her was “Oh, my husband’s already down on the beach! He always takes the rope.” Later in the day, we would come to know these people affectionately as Sheila and Pete.
Once on the beach, we discovered a really quaint fishing village – a somewhat ramshackle, cobbled-together gathering of small weathered structures. Leading around and behind some of these structures was a curious and beautiful path completely comprised of imperfect ammonites!
Port Mulgrave is also a bit infamous for its instability. Like all the beach locations we visited, one has to remember that collecting fossils is dangerous business and that it is best to stay away from the walls. We found out at the end of the day that one of the slides we were climbing over and scouring for fossils sat above the remains of a person who was trying to remove a Jurassic crocodile skull.
While searching the beaches of Port Mulgrave and once our eyes were “trained”, we found many nodules with nodules, belemnites and several gryphaea. One of the nodules even revealed a crustacean molt.
At the end of a success but grueling day, having been inspired by Pete, we were excited to embrace the challenge to take the rope back up to the car. This entails climbing back up steep, muddy and irregular steps while you literally hold on and pull yourself along, hand over hand, all the while with over 50 pounds of rocks on your back. Success!!!
Incidentally, while we were standing on the beach and recapping the experience thus far, there was a cliff fall right behind us. Good reminder!!!
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Kettleness is between Runswick Bay and Sandsend. The only way to access it is to race, aka speed walk, over a slick and rocky terrain from either Runswick Bay or from Sandsend. It is a long hike that needs to be started several hours before low tide with no time to look down for fossils on the way or you may not get there and back safely and with enough time to do the site justice.
According to Lomax, Kettleness is considered one of the most productive areas, especially when it was being mined for alum. I’m surmising that it is most likely due in part at this time to being somewhat inaccessible.
While attempting to reach Kettleness from the Runswick Bay side, we did stop to find a few ammonites in nodules and also a few bivalves in situ. There were numerous nodules above our heads and out of reach on the cliff walls that may have held ammonites. The terrain, however, was quite slick. We all felt that Kettleness deserved more time.
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There are two Sandsend locations. The one we were advised to explore is accessible via a hike up some stairs, then a very long walk to a descending set of steep stairs over a wash and around a waterfall.
While we were waiting for the tide to go out more to allow us around a point, a prospector whom we had met at Robin Hood’s Bay magically appeared. As we gingerly worked our way around some key points, he discovered a small jet vein which he poked and hammered at until the tide had receded all the while giving us a school on his experience with jet.
At that point, a group of collectors from Germany, whom we had met a day or two prior at Runswick Bay, joined us and led us on a crazy chase to a beach on the back side of Kettleness that promised the rare potential opportunity to collect four different kinds of dactylioceras ammonites. This beach seemed to have an abundant number of weathered nodules with the keels showing. Some of us also found a couple complete pyrite-coated nodules that, once prepped out, revealed a few more unique species such as harpoceras and eleganticeras.
Altogether, the terrain from the Sandsend side was varied but very rocky. However, we found several promising ammonite containing nodules while in route, including a hildoceras or two. On the way back, with the tide further out, the walk was a bit easier. We were able to remove a couple belemnite specimens, but, due to the rush to beat the tide, there was a feeling that we hadn’t done the space in between the entry point and the backside of Kettleness justice.
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Fossil hunting at Staithes required the usual parking outside of town and then walking downhill on the quaint main street through the downtown. I’m convinced that this is a UK marketing ploy since we looked in every shop window we passed! Lomax’s guide book mentioned that we could find ammonites, belemnites, brittle stars, bivalves, brachiopods, gastropods, wood, crinoids, and trace fossils, so we were stoked and ready; however, we were also a little spooked about hunting at this locale due to the fact that a child had been crushed by an overhead fall just a month prior to our arrival.
Our fossil quest ended up becoming more of a micro fossil hunt instead of a macro fossil hunt, with us on our hands and knees looking for small bivalves and crinoid stem fragments, and not the expected nodules or larger vertebrate material. Our friend from the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, Ali Ferris, had joined us at the mid point of our Whitby adventure. She was extremely knowledgeable and absolutely excelled at finding the exquisite small fossils.
By the end of the day and not to disappoint, several of us found bivalves and crinoid stem fragments. In addition, we found ample trace fossils in the form of positives of crustacean burrows in and overlying large (2-3’ diameter) nodules. We also couldn’t help but notice the precautionary escape ropes and ladders on the cliff face in the event that you were caught unprepared and untrained for timing the incoming tide.
While we were enjoying a welcomed hot late lunch together at one of the local pubs, we were entertained by a young man digging for modern day clams along the shoreline for someone’s future meal.
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Of course, for this group, no fossiling adventure is complete without the requisite forays into local antique and rock shops. On this particular adventure, we were searching for dactylioceras fossils with snake heads carved into the end of the peristome or anterior end of the fossilized body chamber. These extremely rare curiosities are referred to as “snake stones”, in honor of the legend of St. Hilda.
St. Hilda was the founding abbess of the Whitby Abbey in 657. Legend has it that the area was plagued by infestation of snakes, which was considered an evil omen. St. Hilda performed a miracle by beheading the snakes and turning them into stone. This miracle was said to explain the abundance of dactylioceras ammonite along the seashores in the area. St. Hilda was further immortalized by paleontologist Alpheus Hyatt in 1876, when he named the ammonite genus Hildoceras after the saint.
In more recent centuries, the local artisans began carving snake heads into the ammonites in honor of St. Hilda and also to revive the belief in her legend. Not only was St. Hilda a patron saint of learning and culture, but these souvenirs were considered symbols of miracles and protection. One such original carved ammonite is on view at the Whitby Abby. To this day, contemporary artisans still carve snake heads into “dacts” as an homage to the legend of St. Hilda.
You can read more about St. Hilda here: https://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-short/a-legend-of-snakes-and-stones/
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Epilogue: I’m so thankful that we trained and worked to be in shape before our trip. Every location was generally an easy and beautiful drive, but EVERY location required a lot of walking and a LOT of very steep hills to get to our sites. As with every hill, it’s an easy stroll going downhill to the beaches. The walk uphill was an entirely different story, exhausted from a day of collecting and with heavy backpacks – we just put one foot in front of the other ...
The tide tables are completely invaluable, as were the local collectors who we would periodically encounter. There were so many areas where we needed to know when the tide was going to change so we could gauge when to head back so we wouldn’t be cut off and washed out to sea.
Lastly, with our knowledge at that time of Covid19, the world we knew was only just becoming a strange and ambiguously dangerous place when we left the States. During the preparations for our return to the States, we weren’t sure if we would be allowed back in our borders, and, if so, when or if our flight might even leave. We had also heard of the toilet paper hoarding in the States, so several of us bought toilet paper in Whitby and used it as packing material in our suitcases to ensure we would have some when we returned home “just in case”. The night before we left, when Marie and I were picking up dinner to eat in so we could all continue packing, we overheard some people mention a school that had a couple cases of Covid19, but our “Whitby balloon world” wasn’t completely shattered, just simply rattled a little bit...
Thankfully, our flight left on the day it was originally scheduled and, upon return stateside, we then quarantined the requisite 14 days, faithfully taking and logging our temperatures day and night. Fast forward to today when, under past usual circumstances, we might be in Whitby Round 2; instead, we worry about, or mourn the loss, of friends and family to Covid19. England is closed to us at the moment, so we can only dream and plan our next visit to Whitby loosely in this upside down and traumatized world.
This was one of the last photographs taken in Whitby, March 16, 2020.
Thank you, stay well and wear your mask! (Let the planning begin!)
