News

Kent Goes Wild! Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th September 2009

This year, the popular 'Kent Goes Wild' event, organised jointly by the Kent County Council (KCC) and the Kent and Medway Biological Records Centre (KMBRC), was held at Mote Park, Maidstone. The event was even more successful than last year, with an estimated 2000 visitors attending over the two-day period.

A popular attraction this year was a quiz aimed primarily at young visitors. Several fossils, suitably named,were placed on a 'Touch Table'. On a separate table were several fossil types identified only by an alphabetical code. Those participating in the quiz had to supply fossil names against each alphabetical code but were able to get help by handling the specimens on the touch table.

A record number of 218 people completed the quiz over the weekend.

Some photographs of the activities in the Kent RIGS marquee and a general view of one of the 'Kent Goes Wild' marquees are shown below.

Geoff Downer demonstrates a model of a three-legged Lewis Lifting Device	Ray Cooper answers questions from visitors at the touch table
Wendy Cooper with visitors at the quiz table	Sue Mills with young visitors at the RIGS display table

One of the two marquees at the 'Kent Goes Wild' event

Fowlmead Success - Andy Temple Report, 19th July 2009

Spoil from coal-workings is a rich source of fossils, particularly plant fossils.

Kent RIGS has been actively involved with the conversion of the former Betteshanger Colliery to the Fowlmead Country Park from the start. The group recognised that a supervised fossil collecting site, with tools and safety equipment provided, and experts on hand to answer questions, would be an excellent and safe way of introducing young people to geology and nature.

The success of this project may be judged from the following email that was sent by Andy Temple to Kent RIGS Secretary, Diana Franks:-

"So far this year, not including family days, open days or "get out" events, Fowlmead has provided for 422 children and young people from 12 different schools or youth groups. There will certainly be more bookings next term."

When the adults who accompanied children are included the total number is in excess of 500. Andy receives more requests than he can satisfy but the days he has free during school hours is limited by his own full-time commitments. Well done Andy.

Success such as this can only be achieved by the efforts of a small group of dedicated volunteers who organise, lead and support the fossil digging events. A big 'Thank You' to all who have been involved.

With more volunteers, particularly those who can support events in term time as well as holidays, we could do so much more. If you would like to help, please contact Kent RIGS Secretary, Diana Franks. Her details are on the 'Organisation' page.

The picture above, taken on 29th May 2009 after a digger had exposed more fossil collecting material, shows left to right, in yellow jackets, Andy Oxford, Andy Temple and Phillip Dodd.

New Book: London Clay Fossil of Kent and Essex

The hugely successful book "London Clay Fossils of the Isle of sheppey" is now out of print. The authors David Rayner, Tony Mitchell, Martin Rayner, and Fred Clouter, all members of the Medway Fossil and Mineral Society, have spent the last five years updating and revising their work to produce a new book "London Clay Fossils of Kent and Essex" that was published in May 2009.

The new 228-page book, which is in A4 format, opens with a brief introduction to the collection, preparation and preservation of specimens and a description of the geology. The rest of the book is devoted to a guide to several exposures of the London Clay in Kent and Essex with an identification guide to the many species that can be found there.

The format adopted for the new book is similar to that of the original work but there are many more illustrations and the range of species has been extended to include semi-micro fossils, otoliths, fruits and seeds.

For a brief description of the book, click here

For a downloadable order form, click here

 

The Kent Fossil Database

Development of the Kent Fossil Database is progressing well. The database has been expanded to include Pleistocene mammal fossils from outside of Kent. Museums and fossil collectors from as far away as Plymouth and Oxford have sent information and the number of records now exceeds 11,000.

If you would like to know more, click here

To contact Tony mitchell, or submit records, click here

To view the on-line 'EDNA Fossil Insect Database', click here

The Stones of St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury

A new booklet on the stones of St. Augustine's Abbey has been written by Geoff Downer and was published by Kent RIGS in March 2009.

An excellent summary of the book has been written by Roger Cockett for the Kent Archaeological Society Newsletter, Issue 81, Summer 2009; and is reproduced below by kind permission of Evelyn Palmer.

The Stones of St Augustine's Abbey
Geoff Downer
ISBN 978 0 9561690 0 6

This excellent 28 page book gives very clear and helpful descriptions, all illustrated in colour, of seventeen different types of building stone to be seen in the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey at Canterbury. Close-up photographs are also given for many of the stones. There are also sections on stone robbing, quarrying, transportation of stone, medieval building work and on making and using lime mortar as well as location maps of the sources of each type of stone and a chart of the geological time periods when they were formed.

The stones are related to the St Augustine's site by a plan showing where examples of each may be seen, also a brief history of the abbey and a suggested tour route. This little book really deserves a much wider audience than those who visit the abbey ruins in Canterbury. In fact any non-specialist investigator of medieval stonework in Kent, either in standing buildings or on archaeological sites, will find it useful, especially given its very modest price.

Price £3.95 (which includes P&P). Copies should be ordered from:
Kent RIGS Group, 6 Manor Close, Canterbury CT1 3XA and cheques made payable to: Kent RIGS Group.

Canterbury Fossil Roadshow, Saturday 17th January 2009

The Canterbury Fossil Roadshow has now become a popular, annual event at the Royal Museum in the High Street with typically 900 visitors between 10.00am and 4.00pm with a one hour closure for lunch.

Following the retirement of Ralph Anderson in 2008, the task of organising the 2009 show fell to Philip Hadland and he is to be congratulated on the success of this year's show that attracted an estimated 1000 visitors with its theme of mammalian fossils.

As always, the roadshow was well supported by local geological groups such as The Medway Fossil and Mineral Society (MFMS), Kent RIGS and the Ravensbourne Geological Society (RGS); and experts were on hand to answer visitors' queries and to identify any fossils that were brought in.

Congratulations to all who helped to put on this popular event.

The photographs below were supplied by Philip Hadland.

Philip Dodd and Wendy Cooper with a fine display of mammal fossils	Peter Golding and Ray Cooper answer visitors' questions

A young visitor gets a feel for the size of a mammoth's femur (thigh bone)

Ditton Court Quarry Clean-Up, 9th November 2008

Eleven members of Kent RIGS and the Ditton Court Quarry Conservation Group, led by Dr Gareth George, turned up at the quarry at 10.00am on Sunday 9th November to clean up the Ragstone faces of the three exposures of the RIGS site.

It is three years since a RIGS working party last visited the quarry (see pictures below) and the faces had become overgrown with buddleia, bramble and nettle.

Before we started the clean up, Gareth used two handout sheets to explain the geology of the quarry. The ragstone, a marine sediment, was layed down in a shallow sea during the Lower Cretaceous period between 125 and 115 million years ago (Ma). At its greatest, the deposit at Ditton was 40 metres thick. The lowest stratum was the Exogyrabed though this is now buried and cannot be seen. The beds at Ditton have been traced eastwards to Bensted's quarry, Coombe quarry, Spot Lane quarry, Birling House quarry at Bearsted and Little Chart quarry. The Exogyra bed can stil be seen at Bearsted.

The Maidstone Iguanodon was discovered in the 'Little Combings' bed at Bensted's quarry. As the Iguanodon was a continental animal it has been sugested that the animal died on higher ground to the north and its remains were washed into the location where it was found. The 'Little Combings' bed can be traced back to the Ditton quarry.

The intended clean-up was a compromise between geological need to expose the rock faces and the wildlife needs of wasps and bees that build nests and breed in the soft sand.

Though the conditions were overcast, the rain that was forecast conveniently held off until we were returning to the carpark.

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Below are some of the working party and 'before and after' pictures of the exposures:-

Site 1, before the cleanup, showing the scrub that had to be removed.	Nearly finished; but a ladder was needed to tackle the higher levels.
The group stands back to assess the result of clearance at site 1.	Site 3 was largely obscured by a 'coppiced', tough old buddleia stump.
Site 3 after the buddleia stump had been removed to expose the rockface.	Three members of the party stand back to admire the results of their efforts.

Thanks are due to all those members who turned up to carry out this essential maintenance. Volunteers are always welcome, so if you would like to participate in future working parties please contact Diana Franks

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Kent Goes Wild! Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th September 2008

The popular 'Kent Goes Wild' event, organised jointly by the Kent County Council (KCC) and the Kent and Medway Biological Records Centre (KMBRC), was held this year at the Shorne Wood Country Park, just off the A2 near Cobham.

Maidstone Museum recorded 2500 visitors to its marquee, showing how popular this annual event has now become.

Below are some pictures of the event, taken by Ray Cooper:-

Young visitors completing a fossil identification quiz and comparing specimens on the Touch Table	Andy Oxford splitting shale from the former Betteshanger mine coal tip now Fowlmead Country Park, near Deal.
Kent RIGS and Maidstone Museum marquees work well together.	The Kent RIGS marquee

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Wildlife Weekend at Leeds Castle, 2nd - 3rd August 2008

Kent RIGS collaborated with Maidstone Museum to put on displays and activities, having a geological connection, at the Wildlife Weekend at Leeds Castle on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd August.

The Kent RIGS tent was set up next to Maidstone Museum's tent, at a lovely location near the lake and castle entrance, on the Friday afternoon.

Inside the tent were poster displays of Fowlmead Country Park and Landslips at the Warren, a display table of fossils from the Gault and Carboniferous, a touch table and a quiz table. A shale splitting activity was provided outside the tent for visitors to search for plant fossils.

Sadly the weather was disappointing, with rain showers both days, but the team was kept busy most of the time. Fortunately the Kent RIGS new tent worked really well.

The Leeds Castle Events Organiser reported that 6500 visitors came to the Wildlife Weekend. Quiz sheets were completed by 125 of the visitors to the RIGS display. Their ages ranged from 3 years to 41 years; and more than two thirds of the forms (86 returns) were completed by 6 to 10 year olds, showing that our activities are attracting interest in that age group.

Some pictures from the Wildlife Weekend at Leeds Castle, taken by Diana Franks, are shown below:-

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Rock splitting in front of the Kent RIGS and Maidstone Museum marquees.	Bernd-Klaus Ebeck shows a Carboniferous fossil specimen to visitors.
A fossil seed fern recovered from shale by Bernd-Klaus.	Visitors at the touch table in the Kent RIGS marquee.

Special thanks are due to Diana Franks, Peter Golding, Phillip Dodd and Brian VIzzard (a Museum volunteer) who set up the display on Friday afternoon; to Ray and Wendy Cooper, Pat Conaghan, Bernd-Klaus Ebeck and Susan Mills who supported the activities during the event opening hours from 10am to 6pm; and to Dr. Ed Jarzembowski for identifying the fossils found in the shale.

Without their joint efforts the displays and activities would not have been possible.

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Fossil Collecting at Fowlmead, Sunday 11th May 2008

The last of the current series of fossil collecting events at Fowlmead Country Park took place on Sunday 11th May 2008. There will, however, be more opportunities for fossil collecting in the future.

To visit the Fowlmead website for details of all forthcoming events click here

As always the event was extremely popular and well attended. Some pictures of the event, taken by Diana Franks, are shown below:-

Phillip Dodd breaking up a rather large rock.	Ray Cooper digs out some more material for the fossil collectors.
The new Kent RIGS tent provides some welcome shade.	A hive of activity as visitors search for fossils at the collecting site.

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Fossil Roadshow at Maidstone Museum, Saturday 26th April 2008

On Sunday 11th May 2008 more than 700 people visited Maidstone Museum for a highly successful Fossil Roadshow.
The event was so popular that people were queueing up St Faith's Street when the doors opened to admit the first visitors and there are plans to make it an annual event.

Some pictures of the event, taken by Diana Franks, are shown below.

The Kent RIGS display of local rocks.	The Kent RIGS model of the 1915 Warren landslide, with train!
Peter Jeens and the Kent Geologists' Group's activity table.	Visitors making microfossil slides on the KGG activity table.

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Fossil Collecting at Fowlmead, Sunday 30th March 2008

Several families and two members of the Open University Geological Society (OUGS) had booked with the Fowlmead management team to attend one of the two fossil-collecting sessions (1200-1330 or 1330-1500).

Andy Oxford and Andy Temple, supported by Phillip Dodd, Diana Franks and Pat Conaghan, provided the expertise and enthusiasm to make sure that everyone was able to find their own 300 million year old plant fossils to take home.

Jenny Sedgewick, one of the OUGS members, brought along a microscope so that fossil finds could be viewed under magnification - a great success with the younger collectors.

A number of specimens were retained for further identification and others were either put on display or given as free samples in the Visitor Centre. Kent RIGS aims to build a representative collection of fossil types found at Fowlmead.

The photographs below were taken by Diana Franks.

Michael's Mother Finding a Block to Split	The Split Block Reveals Fossil Leaves

Eleanor Looks Through Jenny's Microscope

The next fossil collecting event will be on Sunday 11th May.

For details of forthcoming events click here

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Canterbury Fossil Roadshow, Saturday 16th February 2008

Theme chosen for this year's show was Earthquake and unstable ground!

The Kent RIGS stand was called "Slip, Sliding Away" and featured a model and photos of the Great Landslide of 1915 when the whole Warren undercliff at East Wear Bay moved seaward on a zone of weakness below the Gault Clay at its junction with the Lower Greensand. The fall was notable for trapping a train that had to be winched back through the Martello Tunnel and for closing the line for the rest of the war.

The display included specimens of rocks and fossils from The Warren, explanations for the landslips and the measures taken to reduce further movement. The White Cliffs Countryside Project provided leaflets on the Warren that we were able to hand out to many potential visitors to the area.

Though the show, held at Canterbury Royal Museum in the High Street, was only open from 10am to 1pm and from 2pm to 4pm the number of visitors counted was 1157. This was not a record but it was one of the best supported days in the history of the show.

We would like to thank Ralph Anderson at Canterbury Museum for inviting the Group to have a stand at the Fossil Roadshow and to wish him well in his forthcoming retirement.

The Museum will be closed for the next four years for major development at the site, but Ralph's colleague, Martin Crowther, is hoping that it might be possible to hold a modified Fossil Roadshow in the Museum of Canterbury in Stour Street next year.

Further details will be announced nearer the time.

The photographs below were taken by Diana Franks

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Part of the Kent RIGS Stand showing a display of local rocks.	Model of The Warren landslide of 1915, complete with train!
Peter Golding answering visitor's questions.	Fossils from the Gault Clay.

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Snowdown Colliery Study Report

The Snowdown and Kent Coalfield Heritage Group (SKaCH) has prepared a detailed study report on the feasibility of preserving the existing Snowdown colliery buildings by proposing an alternate use that retains their essential character.

Their report is for public perusal and SKaCH welcomes comments. Snowdown is a designated RIGS (see RIGS Map No.1) and Kent RIGS has already been in correspondence with Dover District Council about planning conditions (including a rock store) in connection with future developments at Snowdown. Kent RIGS has not yet commented on the SKaCH report but supports any viable plan to retain the historic buildings (with the potential to include geological interpretation material) and looks forward to liaising with SKaCH.

Please send any comments to Diana Franks, Kent RIGS secretary, who will coordinate the response to SKaCH.

To view a downloadable, PDF copy of the report click here

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Wagon's Pit, Aylesford, near Maidstone. Visit on 8th November 2007

The Kent RIGS Group has, with the support of the present Site Manager and Cemex UK Materials Ltd., led a number of visits to this classical Aylesford pit which opened pre-1851.

The latest phase of extracting 18,000 tonnes of Gault Clay for brickmaking was completed on the 25th October and a group of eleven from Kent RIGS was given permission to access this area of the pit and the lower levels now exposed.

Some were visiting the quarry for the first time, others were continuing their study of the Gault by recording and collecting fossils for future publication.

The photographs below were taken by Diana Franks

General view of the Gault Clay site	Views of recently exposed Gault Clay
Close up of Gault Clay	Newcomers to the site were keen fossil collectors

Taking a break!

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Fossil Collecting at Fowlmead

The former Betteshanger Colliery opened as the Fowlmead Country Park at the end of May 2007.

Three supervised fossil collecting events were arranged for Friday 24th August 2007, Tuesday 28th August 2007 and Saturday 8th September 2007 to celebrate full-time opening of the park under new management.

These events proved to be popular with the younger visitors and it is hoped to repeat them in the future.

The photographs below were taken during the three fossil-collecting events

Andy Oxford explaining health and safety rules for collecting at the site	A general view of people at the collecting site
The Lucock family - father John, daughter Samantha and son Thomas	A close-up of the plant fossil found at the site by Luke Fowler

The specimen with fossil plant material was discovered by Luke Fowler, aged ten, who donated half of the split block to Kent RIGS for the fossil display at Fowlmead.

It was estimated that about ninety people took part in the fossil search activity over the three days.

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'Kent Goes Wild' 23rd and 24th June 2007

This year 'Kent Goes Wild', hosted by the Kent & Medway Biological Records Centre (KMBRC), was held at Reculver Country Park, a site owned by Canterbury City Trust and managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust.

In 2005 the event was held at Leeds Castle and last year it was at Shorne Wood Country Park, near Cobham.

The geological records of RIGS in Kent are kept at KMBRC and details of RIGS are included in their reports. We support the work of the Record Centre and were pleased to take our display and activity stand to Reculver and promote geology and RIGS to those interested in wildlife.

The Reculver Country Park is a lovely location on the coast behind the Information Centre with a nearby café and pub for refreshments. On a fine weekend it would have been crowded but the forecast of heavy rain showers turned out to be correct. The visitors who did brave the elements enjoyed the various displays and activities in the dry as they were under one roof in a huge marquee. We had brought the Fowlmead/Leeds material for our display with some up-dating.

On Sunday we were joined by Les Lanham who spent the day talking to people about the collection of sharks' teeth he had brought from Herne Bay.

Once again we would like to thank all the volunteers who helped over the weekend.

To view pictures of the event click here

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Wildlife Weekend at Leeds Castle, 16th and 17th June 2007

Kent RIGS was invited to have a display in a marquee by the Castle's maze, next to Maidstone Museum's tent.

It was a lovely setting and we enjoyed meeting the staff and fully support their efforts to raise awareness of the wildlife in the grounds. It has great potential as an educational site with many facilities already available.

Originally we were offered a 3m x 3m display area but on the Saturday morning this turned out to be a 6m x 6m marquee to ourselves! Fortunately we were able to expand our display and activities.

The Touch Table with a collection of specimens selected by Ray Cooper from the store at Maidstone Museum was very popular and the items helped children complete a quiz identifying fossils of Kent's past wildlife on another table. Prizes of bags of fossil sharks' teeth were donated by Adrian Rundle and the Kent Geologists' Group. Our main display was the Carboniferous fossils from the new Fowlmead Country Park and we also had a display of Ice Age Kent as a contrast of climates in past times. A further table had spoil from the quarry at Fowlmead for children to find a fossil.

We are grateful for the volunteers who helped at short notice for this event.

Point to the photos below for a descriptive caption; click on the picture for an enlarged view.

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Fowlmead Country Park Opening Event Sunday 27th and Bank Holiday Monday 28th May 2007.

"Have fun at parkLIFE at Fowlmead Country Park" The former Betteshanger Colliery tip near Deal was thus promoted for the Opening Event weekend.

Potential user groups of the Park were invited to promote their activities to the general public in various LIFE zones.

The tip is a designated RIGS and since 2001 the Group has liaised with the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to retain a fossil collecting area in the Park. One of the aims of the Group is to promote the educational use of RIGS and so we were pleased to put on a display and activity stand in the pastLIFE marquee (see picture on the left) and supervise fossil digs for children.

To view more pictures of the event, taken by Valerie Oxford, Tony Mitchell and Ralph Anderson during the weekend, click here

Andrew (Andy) Oxford, RIGS committee member, local resident and science teacher undertook to organise the display. He produced a very impressive display of Betteshanger fossils (including some fine specimens from Ravensbourne Geological Society), a model Kent mine shaft with a display of coals and overlying rocks, a Touch Table and Children's Quiz. The stand was decorated with ferns, a cycad and a tree fern as a reminder of Kent's flora during Carboniferous times.

A considerable amount of interest in the geological history of the site was raised and former Kent miners and locals appreciated the display and links with the past.

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During the Opening Event, Maidstone Museum's tent was sited in the level rock store area in front of the graded collecting slope. Phillip Dodd and other volunteers were kept busy; he says approximately 1200 pairs of rubber gloves were used! Even the typical Bank Holiday weather (wet and windy!) couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of the children, they didn't mind getting dirty and the parents were very tolerant. They were all amazed when blocks were split open to reveal plant fossils and every child went home with a specimen from the site.

We are very grateful to the volunteers who helped both on the stand and outside and also with the daily transport of the display items.

PS. The success of the site for educational purposes was confirmed when SEEDA invited a party of 90 English and French school children to Fowlmead Country Park on Friday 22nd June 2007 and arranged for Andy to be present. Phillip went with the Maidstone Museum tent so it was possible to have a small display. Andy's friends at school translated our Fowlmead leaflet (originally written by John Taylor) and they had a very successful day. A block with some fine plant fossils was donated to the French children to take back to their school.

At present Fowlmead Country Park is only open at weekends, see websites for latest news. We hope to work with the future management of the Park to run further supervised digs and help with a display in the temporary visitors' centre

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Working party to Pegwell Bay SSSI, near Ramsgate, Sunday 26th November 2006.

On a beautiful sunny day, eleven volunteers from Kent RIGS, the Kent Geologists' Group and the Tertiary Research Group met at Pegwell Bay for a working party, under the leadership of Peter Golding. The aim was to clear any re-growth of vegetation from the exposed sections of the cliffs.

Interest is focused on three aspects of the degraded cliffs:

• Four sections in a 0.9km stretch of Palaeocene sediments with overlying Pleistocene brickearth in cliffs below the car park at TR 350642.
• Palaeocene-Cretaceous unconformity at Redcliff Point, TR 354644.
• The adjacent Pleistocene filled channel.

The party was pleasantly surprised to find how well Thanet Council had cleared the two main sections (see photos below). It was therefore able to concentrate on a smaller section and on clearing an access path, through scrub, to the face of the Pleistocene filled channel (see photo below of close up of left side of channel).

The unconformity (see photo below) was clear of vegetation and a nearby Information Board explained the geology.

It is hoped that more visitors to Pegwell Bay will appreciate the geology in the future. After a picnic lunch in warm sunshine the party returned home early - if only all geology field trips had weather like this!

Pictures below were taken by Diana Franks.

A view of the main section	A view of the second section
A view of the left side of the filled channel	A view of the unconformity

To download 'Notes on the Geology of Pegwell Bay' by Peter Golding click here

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"Kent Goes Wild", Shorne Wood Country Park - 5th-6th August 2006

Following the success of the first "Kent Goes Wild" show, held at Leeds Castle on 6th and 7th August 2005, it is hoped that the show will become a regular annual event. This year's show, again organised by the Kent and Medway Biological Records Centre (KMBRC), was held at Shorne Wood Country Park.

Kent RIGS was again represented. Below are a few pictures of the event. The photograph of the Kent RIGS stand was taken by Guillaume Marchais of KMBRC.

For the KMBRC website with more pictures of the event click here

A general view of the Kent RIGS stand on Sunday	Peter Golding at the fossil preservation table
The touch table with Ray Cooper	The fossil table with Andy Oxford

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"Life in the Ice Age" Day, Royal Holloway, University of London - 24 June 2006

This public event was held in the Geography Department and courtyard garden at Royal Holloway, Egham as part of the National Ice Age Network project.

It was a fun and educational day with many hands-on activities and demonstrations, as well as stalls and displays with information about Ice Age environments and, at midday, Professor Clive Gamble gave a lecture on human origins.

Andy Oxford prepared the RIGS display using Ice Age fossils on loan from Maidstone and Canterbury Museums and from his own collection of fossils and artefacts found on the beaches of Kent. Special thanks are due to Andy and all those who volunteered to help at short notice.

Thank you also to the organisers who looked after us so well during the day and for treating all the volunteers to fish and chips and drinks in the garden at the close! Below are some photos taken on the day.

	Kent RIGS stand with Barbara Butler and Ben Grace, Other volunteers were Alan Kelford, Peter Jeens and Diana Franks.
Phil Harding demonstrates flint knapping. Stone Age survival techniques such as fire lighting, spear and twine making were also demonstrated in the courtyard garden.
	Dr Barbara Silva with the flower arrangement presented to her as a thank you for organising the day.
Barbara Butler holds the cast of a Mammoth femur that could be matched to a fossil Mammoth pelvis on the stand.

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Wagon's Pit, Aylesford - 17 May 2006

Wagon's Pit, Aylesford is a geological SSSI particularly important as a gault clay site.

Initial analysis of a 2kg sample of clay yielded about 20gm of material greater than 100 microns.

The largest fraction (500-1000 microns) yielded fish teeth, vertebrae, forams, gastropods and a lot of small crystals that could be gypsum but needs to be tested.

The picture left shows the members of the group.

They are, from left to right, Di Clements, David Ward, Richard Davis, Jim Prout, Steve Tracey, Ray Cooper, Noel Morris, John Taylor and Wendy Cooper.

The pictures were taken by Diana Franks.

We wish to thank Cemex UK Materials Ltd. and Mick Hinson, Quarry Manager at the working Aylesford sand quarry, for permission to visit.

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Betteshanger Relic Cliff site working party - 18 February 2006

A total of twenty-one volunteers from Kent and Surrey RIGS Groups and Dover Archaeological Society (expert diggers!) worked to clear two exploratory sections in the bank of a railway cutting at the entrance to the old Betteshanger colliery tip (map ref. TR 346 536). We were attempting to locate a relic sea cliff sketched by F.H. Edmunds in 1927 and dated by Shephard-Thorn (1988) as Ipswichian interglacial (110,000 - 113,000 BP) with a related sea level higher than present day.
The picture above right shows Ralph Anderson and others working on the clearance of section 1.

A further visit was made on the 12th March to record the sections and Dr Peter Allen and Dr Danielle Schreve were invited to attend. Peter kindly agreed to write a few notes to accompany the photographs.

To see Peter Allen's notes click here

We have to thank Mark Kilmurrary, East Kent Sustainability Officer, South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) for his help with this project.
The picture above left shows a group working on the clearance of section 2.

Ref: Shephard-Thorn, E.R. (1988) Geology of the country around Ramsgate and Dover. Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, sheets 274 and 290 (England and Wales).

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Canterbury Fossil Roadshow - 28th January 2006

Once again Kent RIGS had tables at the popular annual Fossil Roadshow at Canterbury Museum. The youngsters enjoyed taking home goodie bags of fossils picked from our samples and the challenge of the Fossil Identification Quiz. Here Peter Golding demonstrates the different fossil preservation methods available to amateur collectors.

Ditton Court Quarry working party - 11th December 2005

 

‘Kent Goes Wild’ - 2005

On 6th-7th August 2005,‘Kent Goes Wild’, a celebration of Kent Wildlife organised by the Kent & Medway Biological Records Centre was hosted by Leeds Castle Estates.

In addition to the traditional wildlife records, the KMBRC now keeps geological records, such as RIGS details and the location of significant fossil finds. Kent RIGS was therefore invited to participate in the show and there was a strong geological presence.

Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery had a table displaying a range of fossils including three nice Echinoids that showed beautifully preserved, really fine surface detail. The Maidstone Museum table display is shown on the right.
	The Kent RIGS Group had three tables displaying Kent’s wildlife from warm and cold periods, see left. Next to the Museum stand, David Rayner, a member of both the KGG and MFMS, showed some of his wonderfully prepared fossils from the Isle of Sheppey.
David is shown alongside his display in the picture on the right. Prominently displayed at the rear of the table was a crocodile skeleton found at Seasalter. This can be seen in the right-hand picture at the foot of this newsflash. The display drew admiring gasps of pleasure from knowledgeable observers.
	The other two Kent RIGS tables contained fossil specimens from the cold periods including Mammoth teeth and tusks, shown in the picture on the left. Some of the fossils were kindly supplied by Maidstone Museum.
Dr Danielle Schreve and Dr Barbara Silva of Royal Holloway (University of London) ran an activity as part of their National Ice Age Network project (see www.iceage.org.uk) identifying plant and animal remains from Pleistocene warm and cold stage deposits.  On display were fossils ranging from tiny collared lemming and mouse jaws to straight-tusked elephant and woolly mammoth molars, together with slides of pollen grains showing interglacial species such as beech and hazel contrasted with cold-climate birch and pine.  This was immensely popular with young people, who were able to study the remains under the microscope or by eye and then identify them using a key.
Dr Schreve is here seen supervising three young people identifying a wood mouse jaw while Dr Silva crouches in the background with the pollen display.
	A display item that also attracted much interest, particularly amongst the young, was the model of a mammoth femur shown left.
Other photographs from the event are included below. The left picture is of the Maidstone Museum display; the right shows David Rayner's crocodile.

Peter Golding, Chairman of Kent RIGS, ran geowalks during the day, looking at the landscape and building stones of the Castle. These were meant to take only thirty minutes but by popular demand often ran overtime. The children’s Touch Table and Microscope proved a great attraction. We would like to thank Hanson Aggregates and English Nature for agreeing to donate small presents to give to the children.

Other stands included the KMBRC, the Kent Wildlife Trust, the Kent Bat Group and stands selling books, microscopes, wildlife pictures and field equipment.

Overall the show, which we hope will be the first of a regular series of events, was very successful. Attendance figures were disappointing but those who did come were very impressed. Lessons will have been learned from this first Kent Goes Wild event and we look forward to the next one.

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K-LIS (Kent Lifescapes Information System)

KCC would like to include details of RIGS on this system and we will be working with KCC and KMBRC in getting our OS based maps into GIS format. Click here for more information about K-LIS.

Site Surveys 2005

The RIGS Committee decided to concentrate the survey work on ten inland chalk sites this year, to fill gaps in our RIGS coverage of Kent. Dr David Wray and Professor Andy Gale of Greenwich University will advise on the final selection and they have agreed to undertake the surveys and report writing. Kent RIGS acknowledges the financial assistance of English Nature with this project.

Dryhill Picnic Site, Nr. Sevenoaks. Map ref. TQ 499553

This site is an SSSI and the first Geological Local Nature Reserve in Kent

The site is being considered for inclusion in an ALSF grant-funded UKRIGS Education Project. The Education Team write field teaching materials for use by non-specialist Primary and Secondary school teachers. The material produced for the pilot first four sites is now available on www.ukrigs.org.uk (click Education button). We are liaising with the Project team and would like to hear from any school teachers who have used Dryhill for school visits in the past or who would be interested in future visits.

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