Fossils in the Lyme light

This is Lyme Regis, where a Fossil Festival is held every May Day Bank Holiday weekend:

Monmouth Street

This is an ammonite, one of the early Jurassic fossils for which Lyme Regis is famed:

I'm going to call him Tobiah.

These are the Palaeontological Association volunteers who ran the fabulous 'What's In A Name?' event at this year's Fossil Festival:

Team PalAss

This is our brilliant artist-in-residence, James, who brought the fossils of imagination vividly to life:



His artworks caught the imagination of visitors young and old:

Do you remember seeing one of these in the late Mesozoic?

We must have had over a thousand visitors each day, many of whom - some very young indeed - queued patiently for James to paint them a picture.  One visitor thanked us profusely afterwards, telling us her son had been captivated.

There were plenty of other captivating events too, from Mary Anning and Charles Darwin giving public lectures...

Soapbox geology

...to Horace the Travelling Pliosaur Cinema...

I only have eyes for Euaptetoceras

..to a fromagerie selling suspiciously ammonitic cheeses:

Barkham Blue

But our stand was of course the best of the fest, not least because it was the only one with an ankylosaur made from the wax wrappers of Babybels:

Ruby Wax goes walkabout.

Sadly, even though James coated her in talcum powder, Ruby was still deemed too reflective to be scanned and 3D-printed by the British Geological Survey.  She therefore had to turn to drink:

Red whine

But not to worry.  We had a wonderful time, the weather was glorious, and we're already planning our trip to next year's festival.  Why not come along in 2014 and see what all the foss-ils about?

Blue skies over Lyme.

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