Fossil Fauna and Flora
Notable coastal exposures from which fossils can be collected are on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent and Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex in the London Basin, and Bognor Regis in the Hampshire Basin.
Animal fossils include bivalves, gastropods, nautilus, worm tubes, brittle stars and starfish, crabs, lobsters, fish (including shark and ray teeth), reptiles (particularly turtles), and a large diversity of birds. A few mammal remains have also been recorded. Preservation varies; articulated skeletons are generally rare. Of fish, isolated teeth are very frequent. Bird bones are not infrequently encountered compared to other lagerstätten, but usually occur as single bones and are often broken.
Plant fossils, including seeds and fruits, may also be found in abundance. The flora demonstrates the much hotter climate of that time, with plants such as Nypa (Nipah palms) being frequently encountered. Plant fossils have been collected from the London Clay for almost 300 years. Some 350 named species of plant have been found, making the London Clay flora one of the world's most varied for fossil seeds and fruits.
The following species list follows Clouter (2007).
Read more about this topic: London Clay
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