Fossil Hunting at Cocklawburn

Tuesday 28^th October 10:00 am to 1:00pm. The walk is run as part of the Northumberland Coast National Landscape series of geo-diversity walks. All proceeds for this wak will go to Scotswood Gardens.

Walk summary: Cocklawburn Beach is not only a stunnigly beautiful beach but it also contains a wealth of fossilised ancient life preserved within the layers of rock mapped out across the beach. This walk will take you out onto the limestone shelves and elsewhere in search of fossils along with an explanation of what they were and how they lived.

When these layers of rocks were laid down about 350 million years ago this was a large shallow basin which over hundreds of thousands of years alternated between a deltaic environment (with river-sands, lake-mud and coal-swamps) and a shallow tropical sea. In these tropical seas there lived a wide variety of sea creatures including crinoids, brachipods, corals, orthocones, fish and trilobites, and their shells and bones in their millions sank to the bottom of the sea to form lime rich layers. Over time these were turned into the hard limestone layers which delimit Cocklawburn Beach. The remains of these sea creatures can easily be found if you know where to look. 

Do I need to book? This event has to be booked in advance. The walks are “pay-what-you-feel” with all proceeds for this walk going to Scotswood Gardens. I respectfully suggest £15 for this half day event. If this is not affordable for you – pay less – no questions asked. Equally, if you are able to pay more, the donation wil be very gratefully received . As before, family members under 16 are very welcome and can come for free.  The walk will be limted to 20 people. To book a place on this walk please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your name and telephone number and I will send you details of where to make your donation. Once you have made the payment I will confrm your place. No refunds will be given for this walk.

Where do we meet? We meet south of Cocklawburn Beach by the car parking area where the ice-cream van usually parks south of the first bay of Cocklawburn Beach. As the road drops down to Cocklawburn Beach there is a parking area on your right, go past this and the road bends around to the left towards the sea. There is then another parking area on your left as the road swings around to the right - this is where we will meet. Grid reference NU027486 WhatThreeWords: ///unstable.spending.grumbles

How long is the walk? This walk will be approximately 4 km and will involve some scrambling across rocks on the foreshore. Strong boots are recommended and some may find walking poles helpful.

What else do I need to know? Full details will be sent out on email to everyone who books.