Beer Head fossils and fossil collecting
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Medium
Most of the best fossil bearing beds are up high, and boulders from these beds are limited. The lower beds are much harder. Potentially there is lots to be found especially after a cliff fall.
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Not for children
This location is not suitable for family trips and children as it is too dangerious. |
Good Access
There is a large car park with toilets up the western side of Beer, and you can park here. There is fair descent to the shore. |
Cliffs, Foreshore
Most fossils are found in the fallen blocks which can be found on the foreshore, or at the bottom of the cliffs. |
No Restrictions
There are no restrictions for collecting fossils here or using hammers. |
Common sense when collecting at all locations should be taken and knowledge of tide times should always be noted. The main danger at Beer Head is falling rocks and of the tide cutting you off. The cliffs are extremly tall, and cliff falls are quite common here and sea often reaches the base of the cliff. You should keep away from the base of the cliff at all times. |
Beer Head
Tide Times
UK Tidal data is owned by Crown Copyright, and therefore sadly we are not allowed to display tide times without paying expensive annual contracts. However we sell them via our store, including FREE POSTAGE
Click here to buy a tide table
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Last updated:
last visited:
Written by: |
24/06/08
2008
Alister and Alison Cruickshanks
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Geological Tools
Most of the rocks are very hard andyou will need a good hammer and chisel....[more]
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Other Locations similar to Hookend
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The middle chalk at Beer Head can also be found at Hookend Cliff, and Pinhay Bay. You can also find this chalk at Hunstanton in Norfolk.
If you like this location, you could also try Seaton, nearby which also has chalk and greensand, or Eastbourne and Peaceheven in Sussex further east along the south coast.
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Fossils at Beer head are mostly found in the boulders which have fallen from the upper beds (upper and middle chalk). The lower chalk is very hard, although ammonites and brachiopods can be found in this but they are hard to get out. Often the ammonites are only half and are generally poorly preserved and quite fragile.
Fossils from the middle chalk are superbly preserved and fairly easy to get out. The best blocks are those that have been sitting around a while as the hard fossils weather out of the soft chalk, making them easy to spot!
The most common fossils you will find here are echinoid's and brachiopods. There are many different echinoid species to be found including Conulus subrotundus, Dixonia dixoni, Holaster planus, Micraster sp. and Peroniaster nasutulus. The middle chalk is also well documented for fish remains too.
Keep an eye open for loose echinoid's along the foreshore which have been washed out. They can be hard to spot! The greensand here is sometimes exposed on the foreshore, and is rich in fossil brachiopods, oysters and bivalves. Ammonites can also be found in this.
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Cretaceous, 85-110mya |
Geological succession at Beer Head
At the top of the cliff, Beer head forms the most western outcrop of Upper Chalk in England. Most of the zones are nodular and Echnoids such as Micraster cortestudinarium, Holaster and Micraster are in these nodules with flints. The chalk is of Santonian age.
There is a thick section of middle chalk, 156ft, including the Terebratulina lata and Inoceramus labiatus zones. Near the base, the Beer Freestone which is 13ft thick in places yields Inoceramus and other shells.
The lowest part of the cliff comprises of the lower chalk being part of the Beer Limestone Formation of the Hooken Nodular Limestone Bed, Cenomanian age. This is a complex thin sequence of bedded coarse calcareous sandstone, bioclastic limestone, calcarenite and shell-detrital limestone, with a distinct nodularity and well-developed hardgrounds. Glauconitic and phosphatic.
Although not always exposed at the eastern end, the Upper Greensand can sometmies be seen on the foreshore during scouring or at the very base of the cliff...[more]
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Related Books |
Microscopes |
Test Sieves for Microfossils |
 Fossils of the Chalk
A fantastic book covering the chalk of the UK. This book covers most of the fossils that can be found in the chalk. It is a fully illustrated guide. This is the second edition of this popular book and is available from our own UK Fosils/UKGE Store.
All of our books have FREE UK Delivery, We have hundreds of geological books for sale.
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At Beer, you can find Microfossils from the chalk. They are much easier to collect because they are so small that you only need a small amount of chalk sample. You then need to break it down in water and view using a microscope to view these.
Chalk is actually composed of fossil shells, so you only need a small amount of sample on your microscope.
We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, you will need a Stereo microscope for viewing microfossils.
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Test Sieves are used when searching for microfossils. We recommend that you use a test sieve with water at different levels. Test sieves for chalk fossils should be 300 microns, and 500 microns.
Our UKGE Store sells Endecotts Test Sieves, which are the highest in accuracy and extremely durable and long lasting. These Test Sieves are fantastic for microfossils. Endecotts Test Sieves come in a variety of sizes, frame material and types, they are fully certificated to EU Standards. |
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Our International Rock
and Fossil Magazine |
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The beach at Beer Head itself is not accessible, you need to head for the South West of the main town of Beer heading towards 'South Down Common'.
