594mm wide x 420mm high The Collector’s Code Fossil hunting is a great outdoor hobby - you need sharp eyes as fossil collecting is all about looking carefully. Good luck!

When fossil hunting, please follow these simple rules:

Eyes are best! Tell someone where you Very few rocks are actually worth are going breaking. If you hammer rocks, use You should also tell them how a geological hammer and always long you will be. Mobile phone wear eye protection. signals can be poor on the beach. In 1835 Mary Anning, William Buckland, William Conybeare and Richard Owen were cut off by the Stay away from the base and Report unusual or rare finds tide and had to scramble over the rocks to safety. edges of cliffs Very good or rare finds can add Beware, as rockfalls and mudslides If they had drowned, it would to our scientific knowledge and have been a great loss to geology: can happen at any time. should be recorded. You can Buckland became the first Professor Do not hammer or dig in the cliffs. report your finds at Lyme Regis of Geology at the University of Museum or the Charmouth Oxford; Conybeare was to become Heritage Coast Centre. a prolific geological author; Owen Be aware of the tide invented the word ‘dinosaur’ The sea can come in quickly; it’s and founded the Natural History Museum, London; and without Mary easy to be cut off, or stranded by Anning many significant fossils may an incoming tide. The best time to not have been discovered. go fossil hunting is when the tide is going out. Look out for large waves, especially during rough weather.