All that glitters....

All that glitters is not gold. In fact it could be fools gold, bismuth or galena, so we discovered when we went to the Rock, Gem 'n' Bead show www.rockngem.co.uk at Cheltenham Racecourse recently. I was looking for invertebrate fossils and insects in amber or copal. Copal is young amber. Young being about 10 million years old and not as dark as mature amber, (or as expensive). I did find some really fantastic specimens eventually, having been dragged off course to supervise mineral, rock and fossil purchasing by two certain boys and one husband. It is a fascinating show to go to and well worth the trip. There were some truly spectacular crystals and amazing fossils all stunningly presented. What I like is that you can really examine the objects before purchasing and I was delighted to come across a great piece of copal with a range of insects in it, including a splendid cockroach. Most of the species you will be able to recognise as they are very often not too dissimilar to what we have today. Makes you stop and think for a while. We humans have been on the planet around 200 thousand years and insects a very respectable 400 million years. Sir David Attenborough once said,"If we and the rest of the backboned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if they (invertebrates) were to disappear, the land's ecosystems would collapse. The soil would lose its fertility. Many of the plants would no longer be pollinated. Lots of animals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals would have nothing to eat. And our fields and pastures would be covered with dung and carrion. These small creatures are within a few inches of our feet, wherever we go on land – but often, they're disregarded. We would do very well to remember them".

Millions of years preserved in rock, tree resin and breathtaking crystals.