Due to a pleasant change in my circumstances, I have been to Lyme Regis several times recently, and it seems as though I'm going to be a regular visitor over the next few years.
As a former biologist I found the experience of combing the shore of the famous Jurassic coast for fossils to be delightfully addictive. Having spent about six hours over three days doing so, I've amassed a decent collection of ammonite fragments. Having got the bug for doing this, I'm eager to try and find some more impressive specimens.
Chatting to some of the local palaeontologists on the beach it became apparent that to do so you need to split rocks, and that you need to know which rocks to split. It's also clear to me that while I've become attuned to watching for the shapes and patterns indicative of ammonites, I don't yet have the eye for the other colours and shapes of fossil shells and bones.
I tried to do some reading about the geology of the region, but most of what I found online was either too basic (i.e. aimed at non-scientists) or too advanced (i.e. aimed at actual geologists) for me.
So: how can I learn to better spot fossils and fossil bearing rocks in this region? I'd be very interested to learn some geology if it would help, but if that's the case, how can I find material pitched to the right level?