A day in the city

We took Jacob into Oxford today to see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. After our visit there we walked round University Parks where I added Ring-necked Parakeet and Nuthatch to my Oxfordshire list (now on a humble 155).

At the museum there was an interesting section on the London Clay Fossils from the Isle of Sheppey that reminded me of my plan to visit there in the hope of finding fossil bird remains (would be great to add to my list of bird finds). I've been doing a bit of research this evening on the palaeontology of the area and some of the bird fossils found to date SEE HERE . Bird fossils are very rare in the London Clay, but it's still one of the best places in the UK to search for fossil birds. The London Clay here is very rich in other fossils sourced from both an ancient shallow sea and fossils washed in from a nearby tropical shoreline including sharks teeth, lobsters, crabs, fish bones and skulls, fossilised trees/wood, seeds of mangroves and palms, gastropods, a range of interesting trace fossils (borrowing worms, lobster tubes etc) and of course the odd bird and even mammal. The London Clay was laid down in the Eocene, about 50 million years ago (so 15 million years after the last non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out).  

Jacob meeting Triceratops (above) and T-rex (below). 

Some stunning Trilobites and a fantastic selection of fossils on display 

The highlight of any city trip is a visit to the city's Natural History Museum. I've visited a few in this blog  (See here ) including London NHM (including Tring and the Cocoon), the Horniman Museum, the Belgrade/Serbian NHM, the Sofia/Bulgarian NHM and the Philadelphia NHM.     

The duck pond at University Parks- an Otter was frequenting here recently. The Ring-necked Parakeets (not an easy bird in these parts) were in this area.