Fossil Forest
As the tide recedes it reveals the top of cliffs that have over the centuries been eroded by weather and Sea. To-day it provides an amazing display of rock pools with wispy sea plants.
The South West coast of the Island has become as famous as the Dorset Jurassic Coast and is a mecca for fossil hunters and geologist. Schools centre in on Freshwater Bay and its cliffs, all I suspect hoping to find more Dinosaur footprints….yes, I am told they do exist but search as we did they remain hidden (Perhaps it is the Islands Loch Ness Monster! a story retold every holiday season).
FRESHWATER BAY
At high water nothing can be seen but as the tide falls, at Hanover Point what is known as the Fossil Forest starts to emerge. Erosion has occurred all along the bay for thousands of years, the action of weather and the forces of the sea continually carve chunks of Cliffs from the headland or natural landslips deposit more shale onto the beach.
Hanover Point Fossil Forest
No doubt experts so named this part of the beach as a forest because of the type of Fossil they discovered but to my un-tutored eye it looks more as if sandstone cliffs have been worn down by the erosion over the millennia. It would appear that areas where cliffs have had recent landslips is the hot spot to search for fossils that have up until then been buried in the shale sediment. Not that we had much success finding only this fossilise sea plant and a rock with circle marks which we were told were made by sponges…..well may be.
The cliff tops are also a treasure trove of a different kind, wild plants abound providing an ideal haven for birds and butterflies.
At Brook Green above Brook Bay there are signs that this tranquil spot was once much busier. There are a line of Coastguard Cottages and down by the green itself a long low, now roofless building adjacent to a one time slipway could well have been a Lifeboat House.
July 7th 2011
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 