Wrens Nest

Dudley, West Midlands, UK

The Wrens Nest nature reserve is a limestone outcrop near to Dudley, which is a national nature reserve and a scheduled ancient monument.

It is an important area for the conservation of birds, bats, and rare flora.

The Wrens Nest is world famous for the tremendous variety of Silurian coral reef fossils found there, over 700 to date. The most famous of which is ‘Calymene blumenbachii’, a trilobite which became known as the ‘Dudley bug’ to quarrymen working the site in the 18th century.

The site is an ancient seabed from the Wenlock group, formed 420-425 million years ago.

Visiting the site and collecting is allowed, however, fossils should only be collected from the loose material and scree on the floor – please do not use a hammer or any tools on bedrock or rock faces.

Further reading:

 

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