I love walking and finding out about everything I see on my walks. 

Fossils are like clues to past environments and events, the challenge is to discover what each fossil is and what it means.

My interest in fossils began when I started noticing unusual patterns and textures in some of the rocks which I encountered while walking on the stunning West Clare beaches. 

But which rocks are fossils and what do they mean? With guidance from expert studies and publications I’ve been able to identify some of them.

Sometimes the hard parts of creatures are preserved, such as the shells of mussels or snails, plants or ammonoids. Other times, traces made by creatures are captured, like burrows, tracks or resting places. At other times the environment itself was captured, such as sand ripples from an ancient beach, imprints from rain that fell millions of years ago or traces of catastrophic earth movements.

Each one indicates that changes in Clare’s climate and environment are the norm rather than the exception: ammonoids which drifted in a deep ocean, creatures that nestled into the sand on a tidal beach and plants that got washed into a muddy river delta.

If you’re interested to find out more please come and join our tours!