Schelp en Gruis About us

Our attention however became serious in 2005 when we found really pretty shells on the shore of the Firth of Forth during a holiday in Edinburgh. After this our interest has only grown because we wanted to know what species we actually had found. By buying books and searching the internet we learned to recognize species which caused us to look more specifical on the beaches which usually was successful Remarks in books about seasand (shellgrit) deposits on beaches focussed our attention even further. In 2008 we stumbled accross a rich seasand deposit in Dishoek/Zwanenburg (Flushing, NL) on the high tide line. The tide was almost in so we hurriedly put a large amount of this in plastic bags and took it home. In it we found lots of micro shells, of which one species of bi-valve we could not identify with the means we had available. Eventually they were determined as Eocene Petalocardia pectinifera through the invaluable help of Dutch experts Frank Wesselingh and R.H. de Bruyne. This of course resulted in an interest for Fossil seashells which lead us to De Kaloot. A small beach near Borssele, Zeeland. This is without a doubt our favorite beach in The Netherlands due to a constant supply of “fresh” fossils washed up on the beach from ancient layers of soil in the Westerschelde tide movements. What an interesting and unique piece of Nature that place is. Sadly it is still threatened by “progress” because there are plans to convert it into a container-terminal. This little piece of coast cannot be replaced and should be left alone. Not only because of fossils but also because of the unique flora and fauna in the naturally formed dunes. In the past years our family, friends and (former-) collegues have taken sand and shell sand from their holiday destinations all over the world. This sand and the micro shells in the shellsand will also be published on ths site. Dedicated to Jan (1948-2011) en Joke (1948-2012)

Us at De Kaloot, Borssele 12-05-2012 (photograph byFreddy van Nieulande)

Firth of Forth, Crammond, Edinburgh May 2011

Daymer Bay from Hawkers Cove Cornwall July 2011

Like perhaps almost everybody does, we have taken seashells home after a beach visit. Simply because they are beautiful and are there somtimes.