The idea was to find fossils, and to that end we assembled near Eastchurch, to the bemusement of some of the residents.

For those unfamiliar with the area, I should say that the Isle of Sheppey really is an island, connected to the south shore of the Thames estuary by a single bridge. Our destination was the cliffs on the north side of the island which stretch for some 6.5 km from the outskirts of Minster to Warden Point and along which are up to 50m of the upper levels of the Eocene London Clay formation, overlain by the Virginia Water formation and in places shallow Pleistocene gravels. The section we would be looking at was either side of the Eastchurch Gap at Hen’s Brook, west of the more famous Warden Point.

We were met by our leader for the day, Fred Clouter, a member of the Medway Lapidary and Mineral Society, and co-author of the superbly illustrated publication: ‘London Clay Fossils of the Isle of Sheppey’,(2000). This area has been famous for London Clay fossils for over 300 years and Fred had quite a collection of specimens to whet our appetite from the tiniest fish tooth or vertebra, to crabs, sharks’ teeth and even a complete bird’s head, and, armed with his splendidly informative handout, we set off with high hopes down the crumbly eroded cliffs, dominated by a striking arête, to the beach.

This erosion is the reason for the availability of fossils on the beach. Fred explained to us that the erosion at Sheppey is very rapid and cliff failure can produce rotational slips (diagram Clouter et al, 2000), and the nodule bands, originally almost horizontal then slope down steeply towards the sea, allowing them to be washed out by rain and spring tides. The clays date from about 49 to 52 million years, and the fossils reflect a warmer environment than today, and the clays a low-energy middle shelf environment, with water depths of between 20 and 100m, necessary because of the presence of sharks’ teeth among the finds. There must also have been shallower periods, because of the abundance of semi-pyritised fossil wood and other plant remains.

Having been warned not to fossick around too close to the crumbly bits, we set off on our quest. The smaller fossils are to be found nearer the top of the beach in accumulations of pyritised debris of mollusc remains, fish teeth, vertebrae, tiny worm burrows etc. The larger nodules were to be found near the bottom of the beach on the wave-cut platform, which was extensive as we were on a falling tide, however it was also somewhat treacherous as it was very slippery.

So then we spent a happy few hours working our way east, some of us grubbing about on our knees, sifting accumulations of debris in hollows and ripples, or, for the better prepared, using long-handled tridents to turn over the nodules, going hopefully to Fred with our finds, often to be told alas that this was a ‘chuckit’.

Lunch was a quite extended period of dolce far niente in the warm sunshine (we seem to have been lucky on recent field trips) to regain energy for a renewed assault on the beach, with somewhat more success as we ‘got our eye in’, finding crabs in phosphatic nodules, and collecting lumps of fossil wood, but the find of the day came near the end, a complete bird bone spotted by Jenny Parry, identified by Fred and kindly donated by Jenny to Fred to add to the collection.

At about 4.00pm we made our way back up to the top, backs bowed by rucksacks and bags rather heavier than on our arrival! Many thanks to Fred for an instructive and very enjoyable day!

The first is a geology trail from Newlands Corner to Albury described by Surrey RIGS. This slim booklet is beautifully designed and slips easily into the pocket. It is a substitute for notice boards along the trail. The walk itself starts in the car park at Newlands Corner near Guildford, where the only board, detailing the route, can be found. The walk is supported by echinoid way-markers and, with the booklet, is easy to follow. The board is reproduced as the centrepiece of the booklet. It shows the route in an excellent block diagram that cleverly illustrates the geological structure on this northern limb of the Weald. Directions are clearly marked from each stop and all the stops are explained by a double-page spread that shows the position on the block diagram as well as in the stratigraphic column. The supporting text is concise and very informative with relevant pictures and diagrams to highlight the main points of interest. Each page also has drawings of typical fossils of the age and boxed insets about the local history and nature where relevant.

I strongly commend Margaret Hargrave for her excellent diagrams and Clare Windsor for the extremely well-thought-out design of this booklet. But the biggest thanks go to Iain Fletcher, the driving force behind the project, who receives no credit at all in the booklet. Iain has been ably assisted by members of Surrey RIGS. Members of the London Branch of the OUGS have, in the past, helped with some of the conservation of the sites.

At £1.50 this booklet is a real snip and goes a long way to explaining the essential elements of Weald geology even if you don’t want to walk the 5-mile trail. This cheap price reflects the contributions from SITA Environmental Trust and the John Daniels’ Memorial Fund. The booklet is available from the Information Centre at Newland’s Corner on Sundays, or through Surrey RIGS, the London Branch of the OUGS, or the BGS shop in the Natural History Museum.

The other guide is not so much a single geological trail as ‘A Walk Through Time’ along 95 miles of the Jurassic Coast, an area of ‘outstanding universal value’ that has succeeded in its bid for World Heritage Site status. This 65-page booklet is a condensed version of the earlier larger tome produced in support of the nomination. Not quite small enough for the pocket, but nevertheless this book is a useful accompaniment in the field. It has a pull-out map of the whole coastline at the back, with the geology clearly marked and thumbnail photos with explanations and access details for the main areas of interest. As with the Albury Trail, each location is supported by a double-page spread with stunning photographs of this superb coastline and the occasional diagram or wild-life image as required. This is truly a ‘Walk through Time’ starting at Exmouth with the spectacular red rocks of the Early Triassic and proceeding up the stratigraphical column through the Early Jurassic Liassic rocks at Lyme Regis with their famous fossils, on through the honey-coloured Middle Jurassic at West Bay and the Upper Jurassic of Portland and Lulworth Cove, beyond to the terrestrial Cretaceous around Swanage, and finishing with the dramatic Chalk stacks of Old Harry’s Rocks at Studland.

This near-complete Mesozoic succession of largely unspoilt coastline is the main raison d’être of World Heritage status. The title ‘Jurassic Coast’ is therefore something of a misnomer. Other factors include the continuing geological processes along the coast such as the massive landslipping at Bindon, the formation of Chesil Beach, and the processes in cove/bay development as seen at Stair Hole, Lulworth Cove and Mupe Bay.

The introduction outlines the implications of World Heritage status and goes on to show the geological sequence of events in the formation of the coastline in a clear and concise manner. It continues its introductory section with full-page spreads on each of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, giving modern analogues, examples of fossils, palaeogeographies and reconstructions. Finally, in the introduction, there are pages on ‘Shaping the Coastline’ and ‘The Birth of Science’, highlighting major figures whose studies on the Jurassic Coast contributed to our present knowledge.

I teach geology to adult classes and have recommended both books as essential reading to back up my courses on the Weald and Dorset respectively.