This week has so far been plagued with heavy rain, making both collecting and photographing sites difficult. A revisit to Thurso was made during the morning, by the time midday came the rain was torrential, visibility was just a few metres and so we decided to cancel the planned visit to Weydale Quarry during the afternoon. The caithness flagstones at Thurso, part of the Mey Subgroup are full of fish remains. Whilst many of the rocks contain scales, head shields of Thursius pholidotus are also common. A lovely head shield was collected on the day. Complete fish are rare since they are very fragile but have been found. Other fish that can be found in the Mey Subgroup are Millerosteus minor, Asmussia murchisoniana and Thursius macrolepidotus. Along the coast, the Mey Subgroup runs from Thurso to the end of Dunnet Bay. West of Thurso from Scrabster is the Latheron Subgroup, the same age as the Spittal Beds which also contain may different fish species. Both of these groups are part of the Upper Caithness Flagstone Group.

During the afternoon a visit to Thurso, once again the Devonian Caithness Flagstones similar to both Spittal and Achanarras but with different zones. Many fish scales and fragments were collected and a fish skull. The fish skull was a head shield and needs a lot of preparation work since it continuous further into the rock as it can be seen on the opposite side of the rock. The head shield should be almost complete.

Fish Scales

Fish Skull

Fish Scales and Fragments in one slab

During the afternoon we continued our trip to Thurso since we ran out of time on the previous visit, this time exploring further along the coast. More fragments of fish were collected.