When we first visited Helmsdale in 2002, there was no evidence of any collectors, the large vertebrae and phalange just lying near the top of the beach in situ, the fish jaw also in situ and the smaller vertebrae found along the tide line. During our 2002, we never saw any collectors in the whole of Scotland which gave us more chance of finding some good finds.

Three collectors where present at Helmsdale and that was just in the evening, many rocks and boulders split and the bone bed was also attacked, UKF is a very powerful site, we now have between 8 and 10 thousand visitors a week and as a consequence what was a quiet unknown location has turned into a ‘hot location’. However we don’t plan to stop sharing our locations with you all!

We collected nothing of any great importance, but what we did see was several very large corals around 1 meter wide, a 15 metre coral reef running along the beach.

Here is an example of one of the giant corals and a small part of the reef.

Helmsdale once had tall cliffs in is ancient times, with the sea attacking the face. A very powerful force caused sudden and rapid erosion, theories suggest a tsunami or volcanic activity. Along the beach the very hard bed is mixed up with various zones, fossilised scree and fossilised fallen stacks. These stacks fell from the cliff, and have been fossilised in situ. Below the Boulder Beds exposed 'pure' Kimmeridge Zones including Limestone and Shale can be seen.

Here is an example of one of these stacks, the large rocks below and around the stack are all part of this bed.

The final location of this week is to re-examine the Helmsdale Boulder Beds, but going much further along the coast. The beds continue for quite some distance and so there isn’t always time to examine them.

This has been the most successful trip this week, layers of hard but thin yellowish ‘crust’ on top of Kimmeridge shale was found widespread. Within this bed, it is packed with corals, sea urchin spines and bone fragments. Today we found two fish vertebra, part of a sharks spine, other fish fragments and a fish jaw which will be photographed at a later date since it is wrapped up carefully and is fragile.

There is also some giant coral reefs and coral blocks several metres in size, these also dominate many large rock pools where fish, hermit crabs and other sea life have made this ‘Fossil Coral Reef’ their home. Fantastic to see.

The coastline from Helmsdale to the Ord of Caithness is one of the most geologically fascinating locations in the North East of Scotland. Once the tide goes out, the foreshore rocks and ledges exposed yield ammonites, corals, shells and many Reptile and Fish Remains. Many Corals were collected from the Kimmeridge Boulder Beds, one 14 inches wide. A small pliosaur or Plesiosaurus vertebrae was found amongst the shingle where Kimmeridge Shale was exposed below. A small phalange bone from the Kimmeridge Boulder Beds along with a large Ichthyosaurus Vertebrae approx 3 inches in Diameter. The Ichthyosaurus Vertebrae took over an hour to knock out (The Boulder Beds are harder than Concrete, normally fossils are quite easy to knock out through natural cracks or bedding plains but this one was in the middle of a large slab with no natural bedding plains or cracks) and we were luckily for it came out whole, it took three hammers, one 4lb and two chisels with a lot of man power and patience, but was well worth the effort.

Pliosaur or Plesiosaurus Vertebrae

Ichthyosaurus Vertebrae

Day 3 - 30th June 2003

During the evening, a second visit to Helmsdale was very successful. Two more large corals found, fish fragments, a large fish jaw, sea urchin spines and a short sharks spine.

Large Coral - Isastrea Oblonga

Fish Jaw (Needs Work to remove Recent Barnacles)