Betton Dingle Fossils and Fossil Collecting
Your Shropshire Geological Guide and Geology Info

A beautiful location, surrounded by luscious, green rolling countryside; Betton Dingle offers trilobite fossils, a pleasant walk and the guarantee of getting wet. Not a site for the unadventurous!

As this location is a nature reserve, fossils cannot be collected from outcrops of solid rock. Instead, they are found in chunks of shale weathering out of the dingle banks and also on the stream bed. Once shale cobbles are found and split, trilobite partials etc are almost guaranteed to be collected. In areas where these rocks are absent, finds are sparse. Find frequency is dependant on erosion of the dingle banks and is highest after heavy rainfall.

(Not Suitable for Children)

There is a steep descent to the dingle and the stream within is both deep and fast flowing in places – especially after rainy periods. Fallen trees bar progress in numerous spots. Extreme care should be taken at this location. If the stream looks dangerous at any point, get out and walk along the banks to a safer area before re-entering the water.

There is a public footpath through fields alongside the dingle. A fairly steep decent to the stream follows and once in the water the going is slow. In some places the stream bed is slippery and in others fallen trees and branches are hard to circumnavigate.

Stream

Fossiliferous rocks are found within the banks and on the bed of the stream. There are various rock types present and the right kind must be found and split to reveal the fossils.

This location is a nature reserve.

Fallen rocks may be investigated and split in search of fossils, but the in-situ rock sections should not be disturbed.

Other Locations similar to Betton Dingle

If you enjoy this kind of location you could also try 'The Onny Trail', Stockdale Beck or ''Upper Millichope'. Both of these locations are in Shropshire and will require a fair walk. Both are stream-based locations. You could also try Coniston or 'Stair Stream' both of these are in the Lake district.

For trilobites, further locations in Shropshire are Vinnels, Mortimer Forest, Hillend, Wenlock Quarry, Shadwell Quarry, Upper Millichope, Hope, and The Onny Trail. In South West Wales, you can also find Trilobites Corals from Marloes Sands and Abereiddy . In scotland you can find Carboniferous Trilobites and tracks at Aberlady.

If you like Graptolites, you could also try Stockdale Beck, Stockdale Quarry, Barrow, Causey Pike, Clints Quarry, Coniston, High Fell, Stair Stream, in Cumbria, Abereiddy, Fishguard, Little Haven, Druidston Haven, Porthgain, in Wales, Betton Dingle, Hillend, Hodgson How, Hope, The Onny Trail, Vinnels, in Shropshire.