Kent's fabulous fossils

Fab fossil - an ammonite from Kent

Dr Alasdair Bruce from Margate knows a lot about rocks.

He's known around these parts as the Rock Doc.

Inside Out South East joins him on a search for fossils in Kent.

And if you follow his directions yourself, he guarantees that you will find a fossil.

The Rock Doctor

Fossils are fascinating because they can give us clues to the past.

They are the remains of animals or plants which were alive a mind numbingly long time in the past.

The Rock Doc prescribes the best places to get a fossil fix

Of course it would be great to find your very own fossils but many amateurs can scrabble around for a geological age and find nothing.

You need to know where to look - and that's where the Rock Doc comes in.

The Rock Doc says that there are three good places in Kent to find fossils.

Fossil hot spots

Here's Inside Out's to the best fossil hunting sites in Kent:

* Herne Bay

Streetmap directions

* Wait until low tide.

* Go to Reculver Drive - there's a car park at its most eastern point.

* Follow the hairpin shaped footpath down to the sea front.

* Head westwards for about a hundred yards.

* Walk down some small steps leading to the beach.

* The fossils are here in an approximate straight line perpendicular to the promenade heading towards the sea.

Part of this beach is a particularly good place to find sharks' teeth.

* Kingsgate Bay

Streetmap directions

Wait until low tide. Admiralty Easy Tide

* Go to Kingsgate Bay.

* Go to Kings Bay Rd. There is little parking, except for the car park of the Captain Digby Pub (note, they charge for non-customers).

* Walk towards Bleak House (a cliff top building with castellations).

* Take the stairs down to the beach and bear left. Walk about a hundred yards towards the chalk arch.

The beach is a rich source of fossils.

Look around on the floor or make a fingertip search of the cliff face.

DO NOT cause damage by digging into the cliff.

* Pegwell Bay

Streetmap directions

This is not tide dependent.

* Head for the A256 Sandwich Rd. Stop near the Viking ship.

* Behind the ship are stairs which lead down to the bay.

* Turn right and look for a large disused tarmac apron. This is the remains of Pegwell Bay Hoverport.

You will see occasional piles of a slate-like materia - this is the roof shale from the coal mines which contains the fossils.

These fossils were formed hundreds of millions of years ago deep underground.

Luckily for us they were dug up by the Kent coal miners.

Now you can find them too!

Top fossil hunting tips

Tools are not always necessary for fossil collecting, especially when looking for more recent fossils in sand or clay.

Some of these fossils can simply be picked up by hand.

* It can be useful to bring a digging implement such as a trowel to expose previously unseen sediments.

* But don't take anything from the cliffs - this accelerates the problem of coastal erosion!

* If you go fossil hunting, remember that you can take home anything you find on the beach.

* If you find something unusual, it's worth taking it to your local museum to get it identified.

* Follow the fossil collectors Code of Conduct.

* Don't over collect - leave some for others.

Safety first

* Be warned - fossil hunting can be potentially dangerous.

Stunning Sea Urchin found on the Kent coast

* If you're planning a fossil hunting trip, check out the location especially if there are tides that block off access or in areas of cliffs and falling rocks.

* Check the tide times to avoid be isolated by the incoming tide.

* Be careful searching for fossils below cliffs due to falling rocks.

* Other useful kit includes warm clothing, protective eye goggles, walking boots, and a fossil identification guide book.

For those that find a rock, we salute you!

Links relating to this story:

• UK Fossils
• Discovering fossils
• open2.net - Geology toolkit
• Kent Wildlife Trust - fossils
• Admiralty Easy Tide
• BBC Hands on Nature - Coast

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites

Urban explorers

Going underground - the Urban Explorers in action

There's plenty of things to see and do in the South East of England.

There's thousands of years of history to be explored, places to visit, organised tours to enjoy.

But, as Vince Rogers now tells us, that's not enough for some people - the ones who call themselves the Urban Explorers.

Intrepid adventurers

This bunch of explorers are going where they're not supposed to go.

They know they're not supposed to go there, but they're going anyway.

They say they're Urban Explorers.

Normal explorers climb tall mountains or discover ancient civilisations - but not these people.

Keep out - but are the Urban Explorers doing any harm?

They poke around disused buildings and tunnels- anything man made, anywhere they're not supposed to be.

It's a fascinating hobby and no-one's going to stop them.

Inside Out joins them in a coastal defence site somewhere in Kent.

Trevor Haddrell is a computer systems consultant. But in his spare time he's a regular visitor to this site, because it's a source of endless fascination:

"Not a lot of people have come to these places. Even less people know what they are. I've been coming here nine years now and I always find something different."

John Vaughan is a factory worker from Canterbury.

He's been visiting military and underground site for nearly 25 years.

For him, it's the thrill of going somewhere that people don't get to see.

Amazing discoveries

The explorers say that they do no damage - they look around, take photographs and that's it.

In fact the one thing they really hate is vandalism.

The asylum hall - an amazing discovery

Over in East Sussex, somewhere near Lewes, another bunch of Urban Explorers are dodging security.

Their target is a disused mental hospital. This group are worried that their jobs will be at risk and so can't reveal who they are.

Their best discovery is the enormous main hall.

Of course the Urban Explorers are putting themselves at some considerable risk.

But we contacted the owners who told us that the buildings are dangerous.

They strongly urge people to stay away for their own safety.

Out of bounds

All over the South East Urban Explorers are poking their noses into places where they shouldn't be.

So how do they stand legally?

Mike Scott is a lawyer working for Cripps Harris Hall in Tunbridge Wells, and he's an expert in property litigation.

Seeking out hidden places - Urban Explorers

"If you're going onto property without the owner's permission, you are trespassing - you are committing a civil wrong," he says.

But the Urban Explorers don't see it as breaking the law.

We contacted the guardians of the coastal defence site in Kent.

They told us that:

"Unauthorised access to the site is very dangerous and can have a detrimental effect on the condition of the monument."

Trespassing is not a criminal offence - it's a civil offence.

In other words it's between you and the landowner and it doesn't involve the police.

Keep out?

So we contacted several organisations who we thought might object to the new phenomenon of Urban Exploration, and the results were surprising:

* The Health and Safety Executive said this is not something we get involved in. We only deal with places of work.

* Kent Police said it's not a criminal offence.

* The Environment Agency said it's not something they would get involved in.

* Kent Fire Brigade said it would only concern them if fires were being started.

* The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings say that you have to commend these people.

* Save Britain's Heritage says that it has had a few of its sites visited by these groups and they have provided them with great pictures via their websites.

Finally a source at English Heritage said he actually uses Urban Explorer websites for more information about locations he's having difficulty getting permission to enter himself.

Whatever the official bodies think, the Urban Explorers say that nothing's going to stop them finding out what's behind the Keep Out signs.

Inside Out South East - February 20, 2006