Geode Hunting

One of the first exciting things that I found when I was little was a half geode. I found it on Herne Bay beach, lying in the shingle. I was walking on the promenade above with my family, and spotted the crystals sparkling in the sun, it was a flint nodule with a large cavity, and tiny sparkling yellow quartz crystals inside, the geode had been split open by the sea.

Since that day, whenever I feel I'm in the right environment I have a little hunt about for geodes, and half geodes. I have to say that by far the best place I have ever found geodes, and minerals in general, has been in the mountains around Granada, Spain.

I picked up so many pieces of rock from Andalucia that my airport case was far too heavy to pass the 25kg weight limit. You should have seen my ex-boyfriend's fathers face as I unpacked various large crystal and rocks from my bags in a panic at the airport terminal.

I managed to keep three of my favorites, but left some beautiful rocks behind in Spain. The quartz crystals in the photo to the left are quite large, they were inside a round but crusty gray rock, really rocky looking. I gave it a smash with a hammer and broke off this piece.

Old Pipe Found on Beach

My friend found this old pipe on the beach tother' day. He found it within five minutes of arriving at the beach (at 5 bloody am, in near darkness.) It was up on the high tide line stranded on the seaweed, and apart from missing half of the bowl, the stem was nearly intact.

The pipe looks brown in the picture, but was originally white. It has a stamp on the bowl. The stamp is the initial T.D, inside a heart, with a flower shape under the initials. I had a look online and found the same stamp on pipes from the 1600's-1700's. I read that a good way to date a pipe is to measure the hole in the stem. You can do this with small drill bits. We have not measured it yet, but intend to. It has a line down it that suggests that this pipe was made in a mold.

Went Out Looking For Summer Truffles - Found An Old Instrument Instead!

The picture shows the instrument I found, it is hollow, and has a large hole at the top, one at the back, and two holes further down, it is snapped.

I am getting used to finding weird things in the woods, but this one was quite surprising!

I was out just now looking for truffles.., summer truffles grow in the UK, and I was just curious to see if I could find any of the signs that they are growing near me. Anyway I was in an old piece of wood, which I found marked on an old map as 'A square' it is quite puzzling as to why it's called a square because now it is just trees.

Found Some Amber on the Beach :)

Yay! I managed to find two pieces of amber the other day, just lying there on the beach. I was not looking for amber at the time, just shells and stuff, I picked up the piece of amber because it looked like a yellow colored quartz pebble, but when I lifted it up it felt really light. I was not expecting this, for a moment I actually thought it was a piece of sucked toffee and screamed, lol! Then I realised it could be amber and put it in my bag to look at later.

The next piece that I found, I actually thought was a bit of plastic. It is not a rough piece, it's ready cut and looks like it has come out of some jewellery and got broken up a bit by the sea. This one has a lot of sparkling 'fish scales' inside it, which looked like flecks of gold when I saw it on the beach.

Latest Pebble And Sea Glass Finds - From Herne Bay East Beach

Quite a lot of sea glass picked up from the beach at Herne Bay to Beltinge. All of this was hiding in the shingle bank, which sits above a strip of sand.

I found some yellow, aqua blue, and one brown piece amongst the usual greens and whites. I also found a large piece of olive green coloured beach glass, which when dry looks like a regular stone.

This one has been frosted a lot more than the others, and is much thicker, so I guess that piece is probably much older and has had a lot more battering from the sea. You can see it at the front of this picture of the sea glass I found at Herne Bay.

Could This Piece Of Pot Be From An Alchemists Laboratory?

I have been doing a bit of research on this piece of pot I found in a stream. When I found it the simple pattern, and haphazard way it had been painted reminded me of Saxon runes and symbols.

I have been looking into ancient symbols (starting with Saxon symbols) and did not find anything like it. Quite by accident found a couple of pages of old Alchemists symbols. (See tables below)

In the first table the triangle shape with 3 legs is exactly the same symbol on the list for 'philosophers sulfur'

Philosophers Sulfur is obviously sulphur as we know it today. OR SO I THOUGHT....until I stumbled on more information about this mystical Philosophers Sulfur.

Crystals And Minerals Found At Folkestone

This is the first in a series looking at local crystals and minerals. I intend to write about all the minerals that I have found in a certain area, as there is not much information online about where to actually find crystals and minerals in Kent, or which ones can be found. (For any sea glass, sea pottery, and shell enthusiasts, I will also be doing some more general beach combing guides for my local beaches, with information on what can be found in each place.)

These particular mineral examples were found at Copt Point, Folkestone, Kent. Copt point is very well known for it's amazing fossils, and is a great spot for anyone interested in minerals and geology. The beach is full of huge boulders, with clay cliffs. The boulders are great for trapping various bits and pieces that have fallen out of the cliffs or been washed up, and Copt Point is one of THE best beaches for beach combing IMO.

Funny Looking Rocks!

Good job I am not too superstitious as these angry face rocks would have freaked me out more. I found them on the same day as well! Rocks with faces always capture my interest, usually they have nice happy faces though. I do find these ones funny! 

I took these to show my neighbour when I found them, I held them up to him and said ..."They're my friends.."

"I can tell!" he boomed back - funny!

Beachcombing For Sea Glass At Hampton-on-Sea's Lost Village

This beautiful sea glass was collected last month on Hampton beach, where there once stood a number of buildings, that were unfortunately taken by the sea, or demolished. (more about that later...)

when we got there the tide was quite far in, but we still managed to find all of these lovely pieces. The majority of the sea glass there was small but perfectly tumbled by the waves with no imperfections.

We even managed to find these pieces of beautiful and quite rare, yellow and red sea glass. I have never found red sea glass before and hardly ever any yellow.

Best Beachcombing And Fieldwalking Finds

Sometimes I fall in love with an item I have found, this can be a plant, flower, or feather, just as much as it could be a unique stone, fossil, or relic. These are my top ten finds so far...

1. Some Sort of Jasper? - This stone was actually originally part of a huge boulder, which I found outside my ex partners parents farmhouse in Granada, Spain. I have a massive interest in minerals and the farmhouse stood in a very beautiful and mountainous area. We went out with pick axes and I developed a great method for finding crystals and minerals. It was as simple as finding the crustiest looking boulder or stone around, (one that was crusty but has a definite shape.) Then smash it open, 9/10 times we found minerals or crystals inside.

This was the first boulder I smashed open, and it was so amazing I wanted to keep the whole thing. I chipped off this part with the pick axe, and it was one of the few pieces I got to bring back from Spain. Of course my luggage was full of stones and at the airport I had to remove most of them before I was allowed to get on the plane, or pay an extra £5 per kg which I did not have, Very annoying.

Nature Finds - Virtual Display Cabinet

All of the glorious (and sometimes skanky)things that nature brings!

  Follow Stylishimo's board My Nature Finds on Pinterest.

My Beachcombing, Mudlarking, Field Walking Pinterest Board Is Up!

I have started a few Pinterest boards to document my finds, and nature photography,  it's like my virtual display cabinet and I love the way I can embed my board from pinterest onto a blog. I will be adding them all to this blog, in seperate posts, all under the label; My Virtual Display Cabinet.

This is my first board which is going to contain all my finds from field walking, mudlarking, and beachcombing. I will also have separate boards for certain items, like minerals, sea glass, and nature finds.

  Follow Stylishimo's board My Treasures - Field Walking, Mudlarking, And Beach Combing on Pinterest.

Two Vintage Buttons

I found these vintage buttons in the same area, but different locations. The first is a brass military button and was found on the bottom of a stream, just glinting up from the stones. Below you can see the front and back views.

Stone Age Tool Pictures

Or lithics as we fancy people call em' :) I find these stone age tools all over the place locally, there are literally hundreds lying around the fields to be picked up.

How to Find Stone Age Tools

You need a flinty area, and a keen eye to find stone age tools, a wet day helps as the markings on the flints show up much better in the rain, making the tools easier to spot. Look for flat, shiny, flints. Pick these up and look for signs that the flint had been worked. The best way to identify a stone age tool is to look for the 'bulb of percussion'. (see how it rises up in the pic below, this is the point where the stone age tool was struck)

Here are some of the best tools I've found...

The picture below shows a notch scraper, this was used as the name suggests, to scrape notches in pieces of wood. I have actually used this tool myself to scrape a notch in a stick, and it worked like a dream!