French fossil hunters use angle grinders to plunder beach sites

FRENCH fossil hunters reportedly damaged a protected beach with angle grinders in search of ammonites, as geologists demand collectors should be more responsible.

Doniford Beach in Somerset has been designated a site of special scientific interest and is protected by law, with its marine fossils estimated to be around 197 million years old.

However, fossil collectors have been caught using angle grinders and rock saws to excavate large ammonites from the bedrock, which is not permitted on the section of coastline. A Somerset council employee in November alerted police to two men reportedly trying to use an angle grinder to remove fossils from the rocks. When officers attended they found two French nationals who admitted they were fossil hunters but said they were unaware of the prohibition and hadn’t seen any signage.

Visitors searching for ancient ammonites are welcome to explore the site and take anything loose from the shore, but hammering into the bedrock at Doniford Beach is illegal and constitutes criminal damage.

Dr Andy King, geologist with ecological consultant company Geckoella, said that some of the damage caused to the area by the use of power tools was “shocking”.

“It’s fine to take anything loose from the beach. If you didn’t it would just get washed up, eroded away and broken up in any case.”

He added: “But the magnitude of this, you can see where they have taken out a very large portion of a bedding plane and the material still left here is showing deep saw marks.

“It is quite shocking in my experience to see this kind of damage done.”

Avon and Somerset Police said that the French holidaymakers “stopped immediately and apologised, and were sent on their way” without any fossils.

The UK Fossils Network said people should always check before hunting as it is prohibited in some areas.