COUNTRY FIELD GUIDE
United Kingdom collecting rules are jurisdiction- and site-specific across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Protected-site status, land/mineral ownership and local collecting codes can change what is allowed. England has SSSI consent controls; Scotland explicitly advises landowner/occupier permission for sample collecting and additional consent at protected sites. Use each location record rather than assuming public access equals a right to remove rock, mineral or fossil material.
Ready · verified
Materials: Fossils, Ammonites, Belemnites, Fish Fossils
Charmouth is one of Europe’s strongest verified public fossil-hunting records: current local guidance directs collectors to loose beach material and operates a formal collecting code that transfers ownership of compliant finds on participating land.
Next review: 2026-12-12
Conditional · conditional
Materials: Fossils, Dinosaur Trace Fossils, Petrified Wood
A high-value Isle of Wight fossil beach where current National Trust guidance explicitly directs visitors to search loose gravel and stones for dinosaur material while prohibiting hammers and digging.
Next review: 2027-01-11
Conditional · conditional
Materials: Ammonites, Belemnites, Fossils, Plant Fossils
A classic Lyme Regis fossil beach with ammonites, belemnites, fossil plants and occasional vertebrate remains. Current local visitor guidance explicitly supports fossil hunting while requiring the collecting code and cliff safety.
Next review: 2027-01-11
Conditional · conditional
Materials: Ammonites, Belemnites, Bivalves, Fossils
A well-known Yorkshire Coast fossil-hunting bay where current National Trust guidance directs visitors to loose stones and shingle for Jurassic ammonites and belemnites instead of hammering cliffs.
Next review: 2027-01-11
Protected / viewing · prohibited
Materials: Dinosaur Trace Fossils
A major Dorset dinosaur trackway with more than 100 fossilised footprints preserved in a former quarry floor. It is deliberately a red/viewing record so the map never implies the tracks are collectible.
Next review: 2027-09-13
Conditional · conditional
Materials: Fossils, Brachiopod Fossils, Coral Fossils, Crinoid Fossils
Dudley's current geoconservation guidance explicitly allows fossil collecting from loose scree at Wren's Nest while prohibiting collection from rock faces, making this a genuine but tightly controlled public fossil location.
Next review: 2027-01-11
Protected / viewing · prohibited
Materials: Basalt
The Giant's Causeway is Northern Ireland’s flagship columnar-basalt geosite. UNESCO records that historic removal of souvenir stones ceased after protection, so the explorer treats it as a red no-removal record.
Next review: 2027-09-13
Conditional · conditional
Materials: Ammonites, Belemnites, Bivalves, Fossils
A fossil-bearing North Antrim beach where current National Trust material highlights ammonites, belemnites and Gryphaea. The record restricts activity to loose-beach observation/search rather than implying excavation rights.
Next review: 2027-01-11
Protected / viewing · viewing
Materials: Plant Fossils, Sandstone
Fossil Grove preserves eleven Carboniferous fossil tree stumps in the positions where they grew, inside an SSSI owned by Glasgow City Council.
Next review: 2027-09-13
Protected / viewing · viewing
Materials: Copper, Azurite, Malachite
Great Orme Mines provides managed access to one of Britain’s most important prehistoric copper-mining landscapes, including 3,500-year-old tunnels and a Bronze Age opencast mine.
Next review: 2027-09-13