Birds and mammals
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.
Bird vertebra
Jaw fragment