Lyme Regis Fossil Walks, Fossilwise

12/09/2026

The bit rougher weather has actually achieved something. I had a really interested couple from America on the fossil walk at Lyme Regis yesterday and we spent a long time on the beach. Cameron joined us for the end of the walk. We found some decent finds, including a complete woodstone nodule (thanks Cameron!). It contained several large Promicroceras ammonites and more smaller ones. A good walk and provides a bit more optimism for today! 🙂

10/09/2026

I'm delighted to announce that Fossilwise is a Finalist in the Dorset Tourism Awards in this year's Active & learning Experience of the year category!
Thanks to everyone who's been on my walks and left me such positive reviews.

28/08/2026

Fun walk yesterday at Lyme Regis and a bit better for finds, the slightly rougher weather helped a bit. We had coprolites (fossil poo!), Devil's Toe-nails, belemnites and some reasonable ammonites. These included this nice little Caenisites brooki. They don't usually "pop", so I was pleased to get the outer coil to show. It should have a nice calcite crystal middle.

12/08/2026

A really great find on the walk today. We had justed turned around and started to walk back towards Lyme Regis when a sharp eyed young girl on the walk brought me an "interesting rock". It's really unusual, especially at this time of year. Unlike the usual Jurassic finds this is from the lower Cretaceous, it is from the upper Greensand. This is the yellow layer that forms the top of the cliff, most notably at Golden Cap. It is silicified wood, but even more interesting, the funny marks are borings in the wood. Really brilliant find at a time of year when collecting is difficult!

06/08/2026

I've had several people recently ask if they can take dogs on my walks. Well behaved dogs are absolutely fine. The pic is a dog during my talk at the start of the walk, I'm not convinced that he was paying any attention! Although attention levels increased when treats were offered! 🙂

04/08/2026

The beach to the east of Lyme Regis is still very sandy and collecting is hard. However, there are still things to find. There is a bed of limestone packed with Arnioceras ammonites. Collectors leave it because is rarely splits very well. Yesterday we got a nice ammonite to "pop" and consequently a very happy young collector. Good luck collecting! 🙂

05/07/2026

I have just added another public fossil walk on the 6th July at 1.30pm. It will be delivered by my colleague Richard Edmonds. If you are interested you can book online (fossilwise.com).
It's also worth mentioning that collecting is not brilliant at present, but we spend a lot of time and effort trying to provide you with as much information as possible to improve your chances! The other advice is take plenty of water. Hope that's useful and helps. All the best
Chris 🙂

Guided fossil walks in Lyme Regis. Learn how to find fossils with your tour guide, Chris Andrew. Taking both public groups and private walks out on the beaches of Lyme Regis, you are guaranteed to have a great outing! Chris has been a fossil guide for over 25 years, and is famed locally for his infe...

01/07/2026

Thought this might be of interest. On the fossil walks I often point out blocks of the Arnioceras bed, it's edges are great for demonstrating what ammonite sections look like. I then split pieces to prove they are ammonites inside. Despite containing so many ammonites it doesn't split or prepare very well. This is why it's all over the beach.
Here's the interesting bit (I hope!). The ammonites mostly split through the middle. On the lower edge of the block you see a partial mud-filled ammonite body chamber. The black triangle inside it is an aptychi. This is part of the jaw structure of an ammonite,it is preserved close to life position in the shell. I see these not infrequently on walks while splitting this bed. If the ammonites could be prepared you would never see this feature. 🙂

18/06/2026

During a walk over fossil festival I was shown this piece of fossil bone by a visitor on the beach. At a glance it looks like a section of ichthyosaur jaw, but I don't think it is! The worn cross-section on the end is a 'U' shape. The bone has texture also. I'm fairly confident it's the base of a shark fine spine, the portion that is inserted into the back of the shark. This part does not have the characteristic longitudinal ridges and grooves. Tonight I'll add a pic of a complete fin spine into the comments.
The finder was really lucky, it's an unusual bone, well preserved and much larger than most fin spines🙂

06/06/2026

The beach has been a bit poor recently, hopefully this rougher weather will help. I picked up this chunk of crinoid bed to the east of Lyme Regis yesterday. It's a bit worn, so it's been on the beach a while. The rougher seas have turned things over and revealed different fossils.
This type of crinoid was unusual as it could attach to floating driftwood. Pieces of crinoid bed like this from Lyme and Charmouth formed when the wood eventually sank to the stagnant sea floor. The crinoid died producing a patch of crinoid limestone around and under the wood. The lower surface of the limestone usually shows the most articulated crinoids.