fossil location picture and uk fossils header



Introduction 
Location Access 
What to Bring 
What to Read 
Safety Notes 

What to Find 
Where to Look 
Geological Guide 

Location Photos 
Fossil Photos 
Video Clips 

Local Information 
Places to Visit 
Accommodation 

Your Fossil Finds 
Your Experiences 
Your Discussions 
Website Links 
More Guides 
Contact Us 
Introduction to Ben Suardal

Fossils and Fossil Collecting in Ben Suardal
Your Skye Geological Guide and Geology Info

Infrequent Cambrian fossils can be observed on the surfaces of dolomitic limestone boulders at the base of Ben Suardal. They are not particularly easy to find and are hard to collect but their great age should be an incentive to at least try to find them.


Ben Suardal - Skye
Last updated: [27/09/07]  last visited 2007
Cambrian
Written by Joe Shimmin
Fossils & Fossil Collecting in Ben Suardal
(Ben Suardal, Skye) - 2007

Location Information

It takes a good while to find a fossil here. The surfaces of limestone boulders must be searched carefully. If you are patient enough, sooner or later you will find something.

(Unsuitable for children)

There is quite a lot of climbing over limestone boulders involved in looking for fossils at this location. Older children may be able to handle this but younger children should not attempt it.

Cars can be parked at the base of the hill and it is a short walk up to the limestone outcrop. To find fossils the limestone boulders must be scaled however, so this location is suited to younger and fitter fossil hunters only.

Rock outcrop

A fossiliferous dolomitic limestone outcrop is exposed at the base of the hill. As this slowly weathers, cherty fossils are exposed.
ACCESS
RIGHTS

There are no access limitations at this location.

Please follow our national fossil collecting code

A UK Fossils & Discovering Fossils initiative (c) 2006


! IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTES !

The obvious dangers of climbing over rocks are present at this location. Mobile phone signals may be lost here so make sure you tell someone where you are going and what time you expect to return.

Other Simlar Sites

Other locations on the isle of Skye include the popular Elgol, Glasnakille, Bearreraig Bay, Faoilean.

Cambrian fossil hunting is not something that many collectors are interested in, mainly because in the UK, fossils tend to be few and far between and the preservation is poor. However, it is fantastic to collect fossils from 500 million years ago, and this age is what interests those who do collect from this period. Another location is Whitesands Bay in Wales.


Stone Tumblers (Lapidary)


Stone Tumblers are used for tumbling and polishing rough rock, stones and pebbles including those found on the beach and glass.

Whilst collecting fossils, on those days where you come back empty handed, you could collect rocks, stones and glass from the beach and tumble then at home.

These are all high quality machines to give a professional finish to your samples. The tumblers can be used with a variety of grits, most commonly Silicon Carbide Grit and Cerium Oxide. We have a wide range of rough rocks for sale too.

Microfossils are much easier to collect because they are so small that the vast majority of collections only concentrate on large finds. These small finds can simply be found by taking small samples of sands, crags, clays and soft rocks and examining them under a microscope.

We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, both for the study of fossils, but also educational and professional for use in the laboratory. We have Stereo microscopes, Compound Microscopes, Polarising Microscopes and Monocular Microscopes.


We have thousands of Test Sieves for Particle Analysis.

Endecotts Sieves: For accurate dependable results you can't buy a better test sieve than Endecotts. At every stage of manufacture each test sieve is individually inspected.

High Precision Tecan manufactures precision apertures as small as 3 microns for a wide array of applications such as filtering, sieving and nozzles. Its high-performance, ASTM/ISO compliant test sieves satisfy the most demanding fine particle grading requirements.

Metal Detectors


We have a wide range of metal detectors and motion detectors.

Our metal detectors are of a very high quality and are british made by the Viking Company.

Why not take a metal detector when your fossil hunting! you never know what you may find.


We sell a wide range of compasses to both explorers, students to boat owners.

Some field compasses have build in clinometers so you can calculate the height of cliffs.

Our compasses are high quality. They are an essential part of the explorers kit.


All of our fossils are genuine and have been checked carefully, we only buy from reputable sources.

We have a wide range of fossils from low cost budget fossils to expensive stunning display pieces.

Our fossils are of a very high standard and they come from all over the world.




Images, Graphics & Content - (C)opyright 1998-2005 Joe Shimmin
UK Fossils Management - Alister Cruickshanks & Roy Bullard
UK Fossils Curator - Ian Cruickshanks
UK Fossils is a division of CWA Design and run in conjunction with UKGE. Whilst we try to ensure that all content is accurate and up to date we cannot guarantee this. UK Fossils takes no responsibility in the accuracy of this content, nor takes any liabilities for any trips, events or exchanges between visitors using either the discussion board or the UK Fossils planner. Any posted trips and events by UK Fossils are personal and not arranged by UK Fossils, therefore visitors should seek their own personal insurance cover. Please remember to always check the tide times.
UK Fossils | Discussions | News | Magazine | Search Geo | UKGE