Fossil Hunt

This time I did something new: I went on fossil hunt! Together with one of my best friends I explored the stone pit called "Schümel" in Holderbank (Aargau). I've never been there  before, I just got a hint by a foreign mineral enthusiast I met in the train a year ago. There were many questions in my head, like: How to find them? How do they look like? And what do I eat? Get the answers under the cut...

Holderbank is a real nest. It's a wonder there's even a train station. But the nature arround that place is very beautiful and stunning. The old stone pit is now a wildlife sanctuary with a lot of ponds, perfect for me! Even in autumn we saw dragonflies, newts, polliwogs, frogs and some "water snails" (Lymnaeidae).

Juvenile newt.

We walked very slowly with the eyes on the ground, but there weren't any fossils yet. But there was that magnificent hopper: Sphingonotus caerulans.
It's a rare hopper nowadays and is protected by law.

Can you see it? ^^

Close up!

Well, we walked further and further. "What a flop", mumbled my inner voice. But suddenly there was a little ammonite on the ground! The spell was broken and on advice of my friend we combed the place around that ammonite. 

Like two crazy chickens we scrabbled the path up and down. There were quite a lot of shells, ammonites and fragments. It was fantastic!

This was my loot of the day!

We also found other minerals like this two fellas:

But now let's have a closer look at my findings!

These four are my favourites. Especially the one above in right the corner. I called it Jackpot x3

This little snail is also a beauty. I like how it is still in the stone.

I'm not sure what these are, maybe imprints of plants, sponges or corals.

Diverent kind of shells, urchin parts, a belemnite.

Of course my friend also found a lot of beautiful fossils. Especially one was gorgeous: a part of an imprint of a very big ammonite! Awesome find!

I didn't took a lot of photos of that trip, I'm sorry. First I was thinking about a failure but then my hands got very dirty very soon xD
But I know, I have to go back to that place. Maybe in springtime, were more animals are around.