(Burton Bradstock Cliff Falls) - 2004

Burton Bradstock is one of those locations where you have to be in the right place at the right time. Cliff falls are rare and a fall at the Western ends top Oolite Beds is even rarer, they usually occur once every 2-3 years and when they do you can guarantee that the locals will be down like a shot. However, although most of the prize finds are usually snapped up quickly, a decent sized cliff fall can provide weeks and even months of decent collecting for smaller specimens or with some hard work, even larger finds.

Unless your quite local and visit often, your going to have to work for the finds, walk along the beach until you can see lumps of very hard limestone or cliff falls, any cliff falls of just sand is probably not going to produce anything, similarly their are no Oolite beds at the Eastern end. Worn/broken Ammonites can often be seen and usually with a heavy lump hammer, some hard work at splitting the rock can yield some superb finds.

When a cliff fall occurs, any of the larger Ammonites often get buried in Bridport Sands, often if you move rubble around and turn rocks over, ammonites can easily be found loose without too much trouble (apart from the superb specimen which was sadly stuck between two larger rocks, see 'What to find' page).

Although it is tempting to climb the falls, these cliffs are very unstable after recent collapses, and even small pieces of rock falling from a height can cause serious injury. You should search around the base of the fall, and NOT the base of the cliff. If you can, carry any rocks you are working from away from the fall site itself and as far as possible away from the base of the cliff.

With a little patience by splitting rocks, you are almost certain to find at least some good Ammonites . If the rock you are working on, appears unproductive, try another. The Ammonites are in zones so once you find a fossiliferious rock, its likely to be full of others.

(Frome Clay) - 2000

At the eastern end of Burton Bradstock there is a small cliff with blue-gray clay. This is actually the Frome Clay and Forest Marble. Sadly the exposures are badly slipped and are often muddled up making it hard to identify any zones in which fossils come from. Shells are exposed within this, often just lying on the surface. You can often walk along the base of the cliff and pick up some good specimens.