Mill Beck to Stoupe Beck

Access

Walk from Bay

Park for free near South House Farm (NZ 95240 03717)

Park for free Stoupe Beck (small car park NZ 95793 03387)

Introduction

The reefs or scaurs arcing between Mill Beck (NZ 955 040) and Stoupe Beck (NZ 958 035) provide a safe collecting ground, however you must keep away from the cliff as it is very unstable. The sand moves about and at times may cover a lot of the best clean lias. In the winter months this is a good place to look for fragments of semi precious Jet. Pyritised ammonites are common, the ones below range from 25mm down to 5mm, most only have their outer whorl preserved, crinoid stems and spines are also found here.

The Scaurs

Formed due to the varing resistance to erosion of the sedimentry layers, the scaur resemble a slice through an onion but without the smell. Notice the fault across the centre of the picture. Between the area covered in green weed and the cliff small pyritised ammonites, belenmites and crinoid stems can be found.

The lower area is some what obscured by marine growths but the odd bivalve might be found. Some of the beds (474 across Mill Gill) show considerable bio-turbation with trace fossils, such as Rhizocorallium, found in abundance. To the north of Stoupe Beck there is a large Shap Granite boulder transported here in the last ice age.

A rough map showing the different zone represented on the beach.

Section of the Cliff

The 40m high cliff is topped with a thick covering of boulder clay deposited by the retreating glaciers. Large erratic boulders of Shap granite can be found on the beach. The strata is almost horizontal with the beds clearly visable in the vertical cliff face.

The base of the cliff near Stoupe Beck exhibits areas of cone in cone structure.