Beckton Bunny fossils and fossil collecting

Beckton Bunny can be found at the East end of Barton-on-Sea. From the A337, drive to Barton-on-Sea. There are two methods of access to this location, you will find three car parks at the East end, along the sea front.
1) Along the sea front at Barton, you will see a café near the sea, just past this is a large car park. Park here, and walk down the slipway to the beach. It is a long walk from this point. You will pass rocks placed for the sea defence. Continue until the footpath takes you round the point and onto the section of beach
2) To avoid this long walk, although not suitable for the young/very old. Drive to the very end of the sea front “Marine Drive” and park at the small car park.Then walk across the path to the east. Continue, through the woodland, passing the golf course and down to the beach via Beckton Bunny. Climb down to get access to the beach.

GRID REF: SZ 23940 92840

Bivalves, brachiopods, gastropods

At Beckton Bunny, the continuation of the Barton Beds yield molluscs of brachiopods, gastropods and bivalves. However, the shells are far more sporadic than Barton-on-Sea, and tend often to be of broken shells. During scouring, exposure of the Chama beds yields the best specimens.

Low

Fossils from Becton Bunny are far less common than the main Barton section and are both sporadic and often broken. Having said that, there are a few hard limestone blocks along the foreshore which have excellent shells in. These have come from the Stone Band, below beach level, which is Bed G. Most of these have either been washed from Barton-on-Sea, or washed from offshore deposits.

Older Children

Even if access is made via the longer more accessible route, the sea is often close to the cliffs here, and the cliffs are extremely dangerous.

Fair Access

Access is not too bad, but either accessing via Barton-on-Sea, or Beckton Bunny is a fairly long walk. The cliffs are also extremely unstable with frequent falls.

Cliffs, Foreshore

Fossils are found in both the slipped cliff and also the foreshore. The best shells to collect are in hard limetonestone blocks along the foreshore which can be split. These have come from the stone band, below beach level, which is bed G. Most of these have either been washed from Barton-on-Sea, or washed from offshore deposits.

No Restrictions

There are no restrictions at this site, hammering and collecting is permitted. However we ask that you follow our fossil code of conduct which can be found in the link below.

The cliffs at Beckton Bunny are extremely dangerous; they are sheer, constantly being eroded, and very unstable. The sea also comes fairly close to the cliffs most of the time and you can easily get cut off from the sea here.

Beckton Bunny
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

Last updated:	2011
last visited:	2011
Written by:	Alister and Alison Cruickshanks

Locations similar to Beckton Bunny

For similar locations, you could try Barton-on-Sea, Brownwich Cliff, or Taddiford Gap in Hampshire. Bracklesham Bay in Sussex, or Herne Bay in Kent. At Whitecliff Bay on the Isle of Wight, the Barton Beds are also exposed.

For the hard limestone blocks, a good hammer and splitting chisel is recommended. A small trowel for the softer deposits should also be taken and something to wrap your find.


For most casual collectors, a visiting Beckton Bunny would seem questionable when far better and more frequent shells can be collected from Barton-on-Sea, accessed from Highcliffe, and plenty of the hard limestone blocks can be found from Barton-on-Sea. However, for those more interesting in the Barton sequence and who have visited Barton-on-Sea before, the chance to find molluscs not found from Barton-on-Sea will make this worthwhile. Beds I, J, K and L are all only found at Beckton Bunny. These contain some shells which differ to those from lower beds. In addition, the Barton Beds here are often sheer unlike the slipped clay at Barton-on-Sea, enabling you to see a good section of the upper beds. Whilst beds J, K and L can also be seen at Taddiford Gap, these sections are also badly slipped. The best bed to collect from is that below beach level near the rocks at the very end of Barton-on-Sea. Here, the Chama Bed, a layer of sandy clay which can be easy to dig in when exposed, yields Chama squamosa, Glycymeris deleta, Crassatella tenuisulcata, Cardita oblonga, Conorbis dormitor, Hemiconus scabriculus and Pollia lavata. The main Beckton Bunny Bed consisting of brown clays, yield marine molluscs of Pollia, Nucula, Pitar and Olivella) as well as estuarine shells of Potamides, Corbicula and Bayania. Beckton Bunny Geology

Eocene, 36mya

At the very top of the cliffs, Pleistocene gravels can be seen. Below this the Barton-Beds make up the remaining section of cliff. This is made up of beds H to L. Below the gravels, bed L is the lignite bed, consisting of black clays and crushed shells. Below this, Bed K is the Long Mead End Bed, which consists of sands, molluscs can be found in this layer. Bed J follows this, which is the most important beds at Beckton Bunny, being the Beckton Bunny Bed. These are clays with a number of marine mollusc species. Although often they are fragile and can break. Below this bed are sands. These make up over half of the section near to the start of the Barton-defences and are unfossiliferious. The best beds are actually below this, Bed H, the Chama Bed. This bed contains well preserved molluscs in a sandy clay deposits and is often exposed near to the rocks, but can also be covered up depending on the time of year and beach conditions...[more]


Gastropod from Beckton Bunny (more}

Metal Polishing

Meteorites

Microscopy

Metal Barrelling Machines are used for de burring, polishing, cleaning or removing surface scratches from metal and jewellery.

These are ideal for cleaning or polishing a variety of metals including brass, silver, steel and gold. They can be used for silver clay and other hobbies.

The machines have a barrel with special fins inside, which helps turn the metal round, to polish or debur. We sell a variety of different sized machines from hobby to commercial.

Meteorites can be found all over the world. Often, large pieces are broken down either naturally or by hand, or sliced and sold as small fragments, each fall is well documented. Meteorites are very collectable, especially ones of Mars or Moon rocks.

We sell Meteorites, which are in stock and mostly come in a display boxs. Our meteorites are from all over the world and include Mars and Moon Meteorites, and rocks from outer space. For more information, please see our meteorite page.

At most locations, you can find microfossils. You only need a small sample of the sand. You then need to wash it in water and sieve using a test sieve. Once the sand is processed, you can then view the contents using a microscope.

We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, you will need a Stereomicroscope for viewing microfossils. The best one we sell is the IMXZ, but a basic microscope will be fine. Once you have found microfossils, you will need to store these microfossils.