Fossiling back in the Carboniferous

Today we take a trip inland for some fossil plants from the Carboniferous. We are visiting Offerton, near Manchester to explore a gorgeous little exposure in a stream bed in the middle of a forest. A major change from the Jurassic of Yorkshire, but still plenty of gorgeous finds!

[@davidthomas6859]

very interesting place Andrew and some lovely fossils ,I haven’t done much in the way of Carboniferous fossils .The Mendips in Somerset is a good place to find plant fossils,we have been to Writhlington a few times searching the spoil heaps .Yes more videos of this kind please ❤

[@dinoskool]

Thanks for the kind words. I haven't collected Carboniferous things since I was down in a brick pit near Bristol as part of university things. Been a long time, but I've already got plans for somewhere else in a few weeks!

[@ClentonWeston]

I love Carboniferous plant fossils and it looks like you've stumbled on a beautiful load of them. Yessss...please do more of these! Not many other fossil hunters do. Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@dinoskool]

Thanks! Have plans to try out another location soon

[@googleuser859]

Carboniferous fossils have to be my favourite of any fossil type. Great video and a beautiful location.

[@dinoskool]

I do love gorgeous plant fossils, but can't say I go out hunting them that often as I prefer vertebrates and ammonites. I've kept some nice plant bits I collected 15 ish years ago so was good to add some more and will be out again soon!

[@googleuser859]

It's always nice to add something to an existing collection. The blast beach near Seaham used to have some magnificent fern fossils, huge full fronds in immaculate condition. Unfortunately they were all in shale and would just crumble after a few weeks. Those deposits are no longer there as erosion washed them all out.

[@dinoskool]

It's a shame the shale blocks couldn't be saved longer term. I often admire the slabs of shale ammonites but know without a lot of adhesive exactly the same would happen and they'd crumble away

[@luckythebudgie3116]

Cool video Andrew, been offerton frequently and the most common seed-ferns are mariopteris and neuropteris. The nodules are less fossiliferous than other locations but can yield small ferns

[@dinoskool]

Good to know about the nodules. I saw some fern bits on them, but they definitely weren't as productive as I hoped. Glad you've been having some luck! I'm off to try a different place in a few weeks so will be interesting to see what that produces

[@MrLandphill]

nice finds, thanks for sharing.

[@dinoskool]

Thanks for watching!

[@annetalbot9151]

Some incredible finds! ❤

[@dinoskool]

A nice little collection of fossil plant bits to add to some things I collected back in my university days!

[@NewZealandRocksDownunder]

All fossils are interesting such a diverse variety waiting to be discovered. Yes please intersperse other fossil hunts with your beach ones.

[@dinoskool]

You'll be pleased to hear I've got plans for some more Carboniferous goodies in the nearish futue

[@mosmarb]

Nice to see a change, though the Jurassic and early Cretaceous is always more my bag because of the ammonites. Always happy for the channel to mix it up a bit.

[@dinoskool]

The main things on the channel wont change so you'll see plenty of ammonites (and a few marine reptile things when I am super lucky) still. Just nice to mix it up for myself and for days when I can't get to the coast because of the tides. Glad you enjoyed!

[@fossilswede]

Very nice and informative video! Like it a lot. 😊 Nice to see something other than ammonites once in a while.. even if the content from the coast is very interesting also! Don't get me wrong, I have been there myself last autumn doing some hunting and filming too! 😁 Keep up the good work! Cheers from Sweden. ⛏️👍🤠

[@dinoskool]

Thanks for the kind words. I've been trying to figure out some alternatives for a while due to tides restricting coastal access so it was good to actually go! Another trip to a different site is planned soon. It looked like you and Matt had a great time when you were here last year!

[@fossilswede]

Sounds great! I would love to see some actual trilobites from England. Like the Ordovician and Silurian from Shropshire. But maybe it's not possible to access those locations anymore? 🤔 Yes we had a blast out searching a couple of days. I also met up with Liam on my last day there. Thanks! 😊

[@dinoskool]

I'd love to get some trilobites too. I would have to do some research into where it is still possible to find them. I suspect a lot of locations are now private or built up on but never know! I'll let you know if I do figure something out

[@fossilswede]

Sounds great! Hope you find something accessable still worth exploring. :) 👍

[@davidnieuwenhuis2590]

I really liked the video ! Thanks! Maybe its an idea to show them later on prepped in another video.

[@dinoskool]

I've treated them but not much will change from the last shot. Definitely working on the before and after things for other fossils on the channel though!

[@Michaelmorssop]

Went here today took 2 hours to find where you found loads but need to some work on hardening them

[@dinoskool]

I'd done a lot of Google maps work based on the ukfossils website guide on the site so knew roughly where to go. It's definitely not a super easy site to find but hope you got some goodies!

[@nirvanamadpaul]

Nice to see the local area .. .. Ammonites tho 😊 ........ Unless you have a section of stigma marina (i always spell it wrong f)

[@dinoskool]

Will have ammonites and prep coming soon and that will be the main things on the channel for a while. Just fun to do some things when the tides are not great! Will try and find some Stigmaria/Lepidodendron just for you 😉

[@nirvanamadpaul]

@@dinoskool I find it near me.. Marple area, reddish vale area. (nice walks) found two bison teeth in the rivers. I agree tho, nice to do something different.... Even checking lime stone car parks or reservoirs. It's why we love the ammonites so much

[@nirvanamadpaul]

​.. Currently sat in opthalmology myself.. Tempted to stop off when biking back... 11miles on the bike one way.... And I brought my hammer incase the weather eases. If i find a nice one I'll send it up to you.

[@nirvanamadpaul]

Got semi lost in the woods... Biked home.. Did see the hydro dam

[@dinoskool]

@@nirvanamadpaul Sorry to hear you got lost in the woods. It is surprisingly tricky to find even following the guide on ukfossils.co.uk/2013/03/17/offerton/