The response to the Great Irish Fossil Hunt was exceptional,thank you to every single person who got outside, searched for fossils and sent us what they found. We received 758 fossil photographs submitted by almost 400 participants across 29 counties, representing more than 13 fossil types. These included abundant examples of corals, brachiopods and crinoids, as well as some beautifully preserved and less commonly seen fossils such as echinoids and orthocones.

Using these submissions, our team has now updated our fossil map of Ireland, which is now live!

The map features:

• 176 newly identified fossil sites, including

• 33 located in natural environments (e.g., coastlines, beaches, exposed rock outcrops)

• 77 located in urban environments where fossils are visible in building stone, pavements or walls

• 66 new sites identified by our team while conducting field work to ground truth the submissions from the campaign    

This means we have a total of over 330 fossil sites nationwide now available for the public to explore on our fossil map. Check it out here now