Fossils and Geology of Glasnakille, Skye. Fossil Collecting & Geological Guides

Fossils and Fossil Collecting in Glasnakille
Your Skye Geological Guide and Geology Info

The Glasnakille stretch of coastline must be accessed in 3 different places to see its various bays and headlands. The sea here reaches the plunging cliffs even at low tide. The scenery is worth the effort even if the fossil finds are on the low side.

Glasnakille - Skye
Last updated: [26/09/07] last visited 2007

Jurassic

Written by Joe Shimmin

Fossils & Fossil Collecting in Glasnakille

(Glasnakille, Skye) - 2007

Location Information

Fossil finds are minimal, with a few belemnite sections being all that you can expect from here. The area is still worth a visit however as it is extremely tranquil and very beautiful.

(Not suitable for children)

Locations 1 and 2 involve fairly arduous walks to reach the beaches and as such are not suitable for children. Location 3 is much easier however and is suitable for all.

Access is difficult at locations 1 and 2 but is easy at location 3. All three beaches offer similar fossils, so if in doubt about whether you can manage the walks at 1 and 2 it is best just to visit 3.

Foreshore, Cliff

Fossils can be found in section in the cliffs, on boulders and rock platforms and in cobbles and pebbles found on the beaches.

ACCESS
RIGHTS

There are no restrictions at this location

Please follow our national fossil collecting code

! IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTES !

The beaches here and the walks to them, especially locations 1 and 2 are very remote. The path down to the beach at location 2 is steep and overgrown. If visiting this stretch of coastline do so in a group or at least a pair. Do not attempt it alone. Mobile phone signals may be lost here so it is especially important that you inform someone of where you are going and what time you expect to return.

Other Jurassic Coastal sites in Scotland

There are a range of Jurassic Coastal sites in Scotland either on Skye or the North East Mainland especially near Brora which have been caused by the Helmsdale Fault. Other locations near to Helmsdale that are featured on UK Fossils are, Crakaig, Golspie, Portgower, Kintradwell, Lothbeg, Brora River, Balintore,Eathie and Brora Foreshore.

Other locations on the isle of Skye include the popular Bearreraig Bayand Elgol, Faoilean

Stone Tumblers (Lapidary)

Microscopes

Test Sieves for Particle Analysis

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.

Fossils and Fossil Collecting in Glasnakille Your Skye Geological Guide and Geology Info

Fossils and Fossil Collecting in Glasnakille
Your Skye Geological Guide and Geology Info