[ Home ] [ About us ] [ Alphabetical archive ] [ Archeology ] [ Author submission screen ] [ Book reviews ] [ Canoeing ] [ correspondents ] [ date archive ] [ East Midlands ] [ Economics ] [ Education ] [ Environment ] [ Feminisim ] [ Fresh ] [ Geology ] [ Health ] [ hit counts ] [ House swaps ] [ Jokes ] [ iLinks ] [ Love ] [ Media ] [ Obituaries ] [ Paleontology ] [ Past thoughts ] [ Politics ] [ Poetry ] [ Quotes ] [ Religion ] [ Sex ] [ Site Awards ] [ Smartertimes past ] [ Spain ] [ Trade Unions ]

You have reached iGreens.org.uk.  In December 2006 we moved to iGreens.org with faster servers and discussion boards.  Click here to follow us.  

Wren's Nest in Dudley, to the west of Birmingham, is one of the most famous fossil collecting sites in the UK.  

The layers of Wenlock limestone, exposed here by the extensive quarrying of the Victorians, were laid down in a shallow warm tropical sea, during the Silurian period about 443 - 417 million years ago.  

You would be lucky to find a trilobite, especially as the use of hammers is forbidden but there are plenty of fossilised shells and coral to be picked up.  The best spots for fossils are the reef mound:

And the fossil trench:

On the slopes above the fossil trench you can look down on the ancient sea bed. Ripples in the sand are still visible.  The pale areas are where a sheet of limestone has recently slid off exposing the fresh rock beneath.

Here are some Wren's Nest fossils, not found by me!

The Dudley bug, which is a trilobite, Calymene blumenbachii

and a sea lily.

[ Home ] [ Up ]

You have reached iGreens.org.uk.  In December 2006 we moved to iGreens.org with faster servers and discussion boards.  Click here to follow us.  

Send mail to enquiries@igreens.org.uk  with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: March 25, 2006