When fossil collecting, you will need the correct equipment. Often, each location will differ and of course depending on the weather and time of the year, you will also need to consider the correct clothing.

If you are collecting in a quarry, there are important health and safety requirements by law. These are that you must wear a hard-hat, high visibility jacket and steel-toe-cap boots.

This guide explains the recommended equipment you should take, both for your own safety and also the tools you might need.

There are many geological tools available, and taking the right tools is important. Our UKF locations explain the best tools suited for each location, but here is a list of the most common tools.

Geological Hammer - buy here from our store

We often get calls at UKGE, asking what hammer we recommend. We generally explain that it is often down to personal preference, and will explain the various differences between them. Hammers come in all shapes and sizes. The handles also vary. A classic hickory handle will provide the best resistance to shock, are the lowest cost but the easiest to break over time. A steel handle will provide the least resistance to shock, but are the most longest lasting. Steel hammers can also be 'forged in one'. The USA Geological company 'Estwing' does this, and it makes the head almost impossible to break. Fibreglass handles offer somewhere in between, they have some resistance to shock and are also long lasting, but they are also the most expensive. Steel hammers have a heavy handle, making them less efficient, whereby fibreglass is the lightest and hickory is in between.

The size of the head is also an important consideration. The most common hammer is the 16oz hammer, 8oz hammers are generally used for finer work, or for children. 32oz and 40oz are ideal when working with hard rocks, but they are heavy, so its a lot of weight to carry around.

Lump hammers, 64oz or higher are ideal if you need to break rocks up, but these are very heavy and you will need to take a smaller hammer for breaking up the smaller rocks or getting fossils out of rock.

Hammers are often used for breaking rocks and when using chisels. Some people prefer, 'crack hammers' which have no point, or chisel end, instead having one smooth large surface. These are for working with chisels and should only be considered if you are likely to do more chisel work than breaking. Please wear goggles when using all striking tools.

Geolgical Picks- buy here from our store

Picks are generally used for locations with softer rocks, clays and shale. These mostly come in two kinds, a sharp pointed end, and a chisel end. The opposite end comes with a flat edge for using chisels. There are however, picks have have both a pointed and chisel edge, which are very good if planning on taking a crack hammer for working with chisels.

Picks like geological hammers, come in all shapes and sizes, and you will need to choose the size you are most comfortable. The most popular weight is 22oz.

Geological Chisels- buy here from our store

Chisels also come in all shapes and sizes. If you are working with hard rocks, you should consider a stone chisel or Chrome Vanadium Steel, otherwise they wont stay sharp very long. Chisels can be long, wide and some have safety guards protecting your hands if you accidentally miss! Generally wide chisels, or splitting chisels as they are known, are ideal for splitting rocks, nodules and boulders. The smaller chisels are ideal for fine work or getting fossils out of rock. We recommend that you take 2 or 3 different types.

Trowels and Spades - buy here from our store

Not every location is rock, often you can find locations in clay, sands and crags. The famous London Clay in Suffolk, Essex and Kent are a good example. Here a spade, or trowel comes in very handy. Spades and trowels are also ideal for crags or if you plan to take back samples.

Other Tools

There are many other tools you could consider. A knife is handy for clays and silts, and makes getting the smaller fossils out easier. Prying Bars and Claws can get in the cracks of rocks, making it easier to split them apart.

A hand scraper, is handy for crags which have a hard surface, and a long handled trowel comes handy for clay locations for digging out fossils without bending down.

Augers and be used for finding out what geology is beneath your feet, or bringing up small samples of lower beds.

Rock Axes are also used by some for splitting rocks.

Our Starter Packs - buy here from our store

UK Fossils has put together a special 'starter pack' with everything you need to start collecting, plus a load of notes, and information. The pack contain the official recommended geological hammer, the Whitehouse Footprint 16oz Hickory Hammer. a narrow hand trowel, rock chisels, field lense, special bags, marker and some tweezers for picking up small fossils. They also contain safety goggles which are highly recommended when using hammers and some rigger gloves when using chisels to protect your hands.

A Tungsten Carbide Etcher is included for cleaning your fossils and two sample storage magnifying boxes for starting your collection and for viewing small fossils.

Other equipment may be required for specific locations. These are not essential, but will often come in very handy. These can all be found under our field section of UKGE

Tweezers - Handy for picking up the smallest fossils.

Notebook and pen - There will be times when you want to make notes about your finds, maybe where you found them, when and stratigrapy information. The notebooks and pens we sell on UKGE are waterproof, they will even work under water! So if it rains or you bag gets wet, the ink won't run!

Field Lens - Sometimes you will need a hand lense to see the tiny fossils. Especially good for London Clay locations, crags and all clays. Some people put a string round the lense and hang them from their neck.

Other tools - If you are interested in the geology of locations, perhaps a tape measure and clipboard may come in handy.

This depends on where you are going to collect, and what the weather is likely to be. Most of our locations featured on UKF, have some detail to the footwear recommended depending on if the foreshore is muddy, rocky or sandy.

Hats and Hard Hats - buy here from our store

If you are planning on going to a quarry, it is a legal requirement to wear a hard hat at all times. It it also advisable to wear a hard hat for locations where cliffs can be tall, crumble often or where the foreshore is limited so that collecting is forced more near the base of the cliff.

You should also consider what the weather may be like, often, if you go to a coastal or river location, the wind will be much stronger and colder than inland. You may think that you won't need a hat, but down the beach, you could wish that you would have brought one. It is best to take one anyway. The same can be said for if collecting up mountains, hills or if you plan to be out a long time. You never know when you might need one. Your mother probably told you, "if you ears and head gets cold, you could go down with a cold".

Goggles - buy here from our store

Goggles should be worn when using striking tools. You could easily damage your eye by sharp fragments of rock flying into them, it can also be very painful. Goggles can also be worn in dusty locations such as sands and crags, dust in your eye can be most annoying!

Gloves - buy here from our store

Apart from gloves being recommended for cold conditions, they are also very useful when working with tools. Sometimes when using chisels, they give extra protection if you accidentally 'miss' the chisel with your hammer, and when using hickory hammers, they can make your hands sore.

Gloves for chalk locations are also handy since chalk is an alkaline, and this causes your hand to be dry, sore and sometimes crack.

Jacket and Trousers - buy here from our store

For quarry locations, wearing a high visibility jacket is an essential part of the health and safety requirements by law, but your choice in jacket outside the quarry, particularly coastal locations needs careful consideration.

If you wear something too thick, especially if doing a lot of walking, you may become overheated and will have the extra weight of carrying your coat in your bag. However, if you set off without a coat, and the weather changes or you are collecting from high altitude locations such as a mountain, you may wish you had one.

Waterproofs jackets and trousers are idea as if it rains you will stay dry, they also keep the wind out, yet they are very light. You can normally carry these in your bag without too much weight difference. If you get them dirty, most are easy to wipe clean.

For locations which are muddy or have clay, waterproof trousers are excellent as they prevent your nice trousers being covered in clay, and maybe prevent your wife from giving you a good telling off!

Footwear - buy here from our store

Your choice of footwear is an important one, if you choose trainers for a location with clay, then not only will you probably end up in a mess, but you may get one of them stuck in the mud!

Wearing wellington's however, especially on long walks, can be very tiresome.

Steel-toe-caps are often a requirement by quarries, but they are also very good for locations with any kind of rocks. If a rock dislodges, they it could easily fall on your foot, and having steel toe caps protects your feet! Steel mid-soles are also very good for protecting against sharp rocks which could pierce through your sole.

Rucksacks - buy here from our store

Rucksack- The Right Ruck Sack will not only protect your fossils, but also protect your back when carrying back those heavy rocks. Some general use bags will not withstand the weight and could snap just when you have a bag full of fragile finds. You need to ensure that the rucksack you choose is right for the job. If you are planning on collecting a lot, you should consider a specially designed Geo-Bag which contains fabric suited for the weight of finds with compartments for your essential items. Alternatively a good army style rucksack or heavy duty camping or hiking type will be fine.

Storage containers

Sometimes, putting your finds in a bag could easily damage them, examples are shark teeth, and shells. For smaller finds, the tool compartment boxes you get from all DIY stores are excellent. These boxes nearly always have compartments so you can separate your finds.

If you want to go even further, then you can add beach sand to each compartment which will give even better protection and stop your finds from moving around so much.

Specimen Bags - buy here from our store

For more harder or larger fossils, or for bringing home samples for looking at microfossils, specimen bags are ideal. These are cheap, and self-seal, and allow you to separate your finds. They are best used with paper to wrap and protect your fossil.

Paper

You should always take some soft paper with you, for the more fragile finds. Kitchen Rolls, Toilet paper are ideal, but Newspaper can be a little too hard for the more fragile finds. You can also buy large rolls of continuous paper from cleaning store. This paper is used in commercial/public toilets or at garages, and is both soft but doesn't rip too easy. It is also cheap, and will last you ages!

Digital Camera - Sometimes you will come across a fossil that you would wish you could take back home, but is too big to carry, or maybe its a race against the time and tide and it looks unlikely that you will save a precious fossil, or maybe you fear that you may damage an important find and wish to take a photo just in case that split goes terribly wrong.

Perhaps you would like a photo of a particular bed for reference or the location of a major find. Cameras are very handy and although digital cameras are much better than conventional ones, any standard camera will be fine. Note that it is not advisable to take expensive camera fossiling. Sand, sea, slipping on seaweed, rain, falling rocks and dropping the camera can easily damage it.

Food and Drink - Absolutely essential, you never know how long your going to be or when you will need that drink. It is best to take just a simple water container. Fruit mixtures such as orange, lemon and apple can make you more thirsty than you already were. A flask of tea, coffee or soup is ideal when collecting in the winter months. Take note, it is not advisable to take any chocolate foods or other foods likely to melt, especially in summer. Even in winter, hiking to a location can melt that chocolate bar in your pocket. Foods with salts are very good because they prevent you from dehydrating quickly, very handy on long hikes in summer, but they will make you more thirsty!

Guides, Books and Maps - For new locations or locations in which you are not familiar with, taking the guide book in a plastic bag can be very useful and saves you from swearing later when you couldn't find anything because you couldn't remember what the book said. Also it is best to take the tide time book even if you have remembered the times or even have written them down.

Mobile Phone - Mobile phones have become a way of life but they could become a life line. It it not recommenced to rely on your mobile to get out of trouble, because if you are cut off from the tide, have a fall or are injured, your mobile may not be as reliable as you think. We also recommend that you are inform friends or relatives that you are off on a trip. Be aware that many beach locations can have very bad reception levels due to the cliffs in a radio-shadow area, it is best to ensure your friends and relatives understand that if they cannot make contact, not to panic.

First Aid - It is important to carry some form of first aid especially if you are planning a long journey, many beach's which are ideal for collecting also happen to be quite rocky, so it is easy to slip and obtain cuts.