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Birds
have fragile bones which do not fossilise well and as a consequence are extremely
rare in the London clay. Their remains are most often found as fragments of individual
bones amongst the accumulations of pyrite on the beach. Phosphatic nodules containing
bird remains are very uncommon. Their occurrence in nodules is attributed to regurgitated
stomach contents of large carnivores by some collectors. Of course this is pure
speculation, but would account for the unusual lining up in parallel on the surface
of nodules. Mammals are the most uncommon of all the vertebrate fossils found
on the island. Considering that the London clay of Sheppey was laid down approximately
100 kilometres from the nearest shoreline it is amazing that any are found at
all. Fewer than ten recorded specimens have been found on Sheppey in the last
300 years. |
