The Pearl of Dorset

Lyme Regis, the Pearl of Dorset in Lyme Bay UK is a small seaside town at the centre of the Fossil filled Jurassic Coast. It is home to countless fossil finds including the important specimens discovered by Mary Anning in the 1820's (She of She Sells Seashells on the Seashore rhyme), a self taught and largely uncredited Palaeontologist whose work led to significant changes in scientific thinking on the early history of the Earth.

Fossil Hunting

Lyme Regis is full of shops selling specimens of fossils large and small and holiday making fossil hunters young and old. I visited Lyme Regis and decided to find my own. I did also buy a few very good quality specimens found and extracted by locals. If you are lucky you might find a well preserved ammonite. You could find a whole dinosaur skeleton which sometimes appear out of the crumbling rocks, particularly after a harsh winter storm.

Dinosaur Bones

I found a dinosaur bone, most likely a Plesiosaur fin bone, of which there are a number. Many small fossils can be found on the shoreline of cockles and other bivalves. This is what Mary was selling to make ends meet in 1812 so the rhyme goes. Ammonite fossils which are distant cousins of squid and relatives of the modern day Nautilus can grow to enormous proportions but many intact specimens can be found from the size of a penny up to an impressive cup size.

The first impression of Lyme Regis is this impressive wide & shallow bay to the East which at low tide exposes a flat rock bed expanse. There is a small beach lined with shops and cafes in front of the steep windy roads of the town. On the other side of the harbour there is a wild shingle beach with huge tree trunk stumps washed up. This is where I found some of the best fossil examples.

• Lyme Regis as the tide is going out 1/3200th @ f2.8 ISO 100

• The incoming tide begins to fill the bay with gentle rolling waves 1/640th @ f2.8 ISO 100

• The Wild West side of the Beach at the end of Lyme Regis 1/200th @ f5.6 ISO 100

• Driftwood in the form of whole tree roots / stumps washed up on the west side 1/250th @ f4 ISO 100

• Driftwood in the form of whole tree trunk stumps washed up on the west side 1/250th @ f4 ISO 100

• Large rocks worn down by the tides expose a cross section of a large Ammonite fossil 1/250th @ f4 ISO 100

• Large rocks worn down by the tides expose a cross section of an array of small Ammonite fossils 1/250th @ f4 ISO 100

• Large rocks worn down by the tides expose cross sections of large Ammonite fossils 1/500th @ f4 ISO 100

• Home to a large population of Sea Birds these aggressive Gulls will steal your fish & chips at the merest opportunity. I watched as a large gull took position on a parasol and slowly sneaked up on an old lady taking her bag of chips off with it 1/1600th @ f4 ISO 100

• Sea Birds at their finest, doing what seabirds do best, gliding on the wind using little energy to scan the horizon for food; shoal of small herring or an unwitting human's fish supper 1/100th @ f 5.6 ISO 100

• Rock pools are a favourite play area at Lyme Regis - low tide. I even found a small fossilised bivalve (cockleshell) in one 1/2500th @ f2.8 ISO 100

Technical

I used a relatively fast f2.8, ultra wide angle 14mm lens for the landscape shots, which I had brought with me for astro-photography in the relative dark skies of the South Coast. It produces a crisp, sharp image & produces a still wide 21mm equivalent on a DX body. (The Nikon version is chip controlled). I also had a 70-300mm lens and used this to capture the fossils on the beach.