Beachy Head fossils and fossil collecting
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 It is advised that you approach Beachy Head from the Eastbourne side. Once parked by the café at the western end of King Edward’s Parade, walk past the café, on the path to it’s left and follow this along the coast to Cow Gap, and then along the beach for another mile or so.
As you walk along the beach to the lighthouse you can stop to examine fallen Lower Chalk blocks for fossils. However, it is advised that you walk all the way to the lighthouse and start fossil hunting in rock fall there, stopping to examine the lower chalk on your way back. This is to avoid becoming caught out by the tide.
GRID REF: 50.73625°N, 0.24282°E
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Medium
Fossils are fairly scarce between the lighthouse and Birling Gap, being more common in the fall behind the lighthouse and the Lower Chalk between the lighthouse and Cow Gap.
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Not for children
The walk to the fossil hunting areas is quite long and can involve scrambling over boulders. The rock fall behind the lighthouse should not be attempted by children.
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Difficult Access
Beachy head can be accessed via a hilly walk from the café at the western end of King Edward’s Parade. The site can also be reached from Birling Gap, but coming from this direction is not advised as it takes longer, there are no refuge points if you should get caught by the tide and fossils are not abundant.
Fossil hunting at this location does require climbing over large and often slippy rocks |
Cliffs and Foreshore
Fossils are mainly collected from fallen chalk boulders. Look out for flint fossils on the beach also.
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No Restrictions
There are no restrictions at this location, but please follow our own code of conduct for all locations.
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Beachy Head
Tide Times
UK Tidal data is owned by Crown Copyright, and therefore sadly we are not allowed to display tide times without paying expensive annual contracts. However we sell them via our store, including FREE POSTAGE
Click here to buy a tide table |
Make sure you visit this location on a retreating tide. There is no way off of the beach between Cow Gap and Birling Gap. It is safer to approaching Beachy Head from the Eastbourne side as there are areas of fallen rock here which rise above the high water, providing refuge should you become cut off by the tide. On the Birling Gap side of the lighthouse, there are no such refuges. This site should be visited on a falling tide, about two and a half hours before low tide is ideal. Parts of the beach get cut off up to two and a half hours before high tide – so do be careful. Please do not hammer into the cliff face to avoid causing rocks to fall on you! The foreshore can be slippery due to mud and weed. Mobile phone signals are poor or non existent – make sure you tell someone where you are and what time you expect to be back. |
Last updated:
last visited:
Written by: |
01/01/10
2009
Joe Shimmin |
 
Other Locations similar to Beachy Head
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In Sussex and Kent, there are many excellent locations for collecting chalk fossils. Newhaven, Seaford, Seven Sisters, Eastbourne, Beachy Head, Peacehaven and Beachy Head, Dumpton, Kingsgate, Samphire Hoe, Pegwell Bay, Dover, St Margarets Bay.
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Most fossils at Beachy Head can be found on the foreshore or the base of the cliff from the fallen rocks or loose fossils an scree slopes.
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Although a difficult location, Beachy Head is highly recommended to Chalk fossil lovers. Within a few hundred metres, fossils from the Lower, Middle and Upper Chalk can be collected; a rare opportunity. Fossils are most abundant weathering out of the Lower (Grey) Chalk and fairly common in the fall behind the lighthouse. Flint pebbles will also occasionally contain fossils.
There is a wide range of species to be found at this location. In the Lower Chalk, echinoids, brachiopods, bivalves, corals, worm tubes and more can be found. In the Middle and Upper Chalk, echinoids, bivalves, brachiopods, belemnites etc are present. This is a diverse location.
Sheet flint layer exposed at beach level - Birling Gap end
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Cretaceous, 85mya |
The geology of Eastbourne to Beachy Head, is of Lower, Middle and Upper chalk with Gault and Greensand, however, at Beachy Head itself, the chalk is of Turonian age...[more]
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Related Books |
Microscopes |
Test Sieves for Microfossils |
 Fossils of the Chalk
A fantastic book covering the chalk of the UK. This book covers most of the fossils that can be found in the chalk. It is a fully illustrated guide. This is the second edition of this popular book and is available from our own UK Fosils/UKGE Store.
All of our books have FREE UK Delivery, We have hundreds of geological books for sale.
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At Beachy Head, you can find Microfossils from the chalk. They are much easier to collect because they are so small that you only need a small amount of chalk sample. You then need to break it down in water and view using a microscope to view these.
Chalk is actually composed of fossil shells, so you only need a small amount of sample on your microscope.
We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, you will need a Stereo microscope for viewing microfossils.
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Test Sieves are used when searching for microfossils. We recommend that you use a test sieve with water at different levels. Test sieves for chalk fossils should be 300 microns, and 500 microns.
Our UKGE Store sells Endecotts Test Sieves, which are the highest in accuracy and extremely durable and long lasting. These Test Sieves are fantastic for microfossils. Endecotts Test Sieves come in a variety of sizes, frame material and types, they are fully certificated to EU Standards. |
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