Agate Scotland

1. What or who got you into agate collecting in the first place?

 

 :The short answer here is : my parents.

 

I was taken to Barras Quarry initially, I believe, and this would have been during the very early 1990s. I took an interest in scrambling around the quarry, and would find scraps of agate, while my parents collected whole nodules, and my younger brother, geodes. During early days I was probably more interested in finding caterpillars in the wasteground surrounding the quarry, or the newts that could be found in the flooded areas. I took a more keen interest in agates when we began visiting the coast, specifically Ferryden and Scurdie Ness, though we did visit St Cyrus also. I would have been 9 or 10 years old then, and I would say that was when I really became taken with it, the whole idea of finding such treasure on an unassuming Scottish beach, on a grey and drizzly July, together with your usual shore crabs and king ragworm lurking about in rockpools. In fact, that was my thing, searching rockpools for agate, a place where even now they might be missed. 

 

2. What was the first thing you found that really excited you?

 

: At St Cyrus, namedly the nature reserve area, (which is reached via a steep snaking path from the Beach Road that follows on from St Cyrus Church) agates are most prevalent to the north, around the waterfall south of the ruins of Kaim of Mathers Castle on the cliffs above. It was there, during the summer of 1997 I believe, that I found a particularly beautiful water-worn "flame" agate, that is to say, an agate with carnelian colouration, showing a flame-shaped fortification  on its tumbled surface. That was my favourite for some years, and it wasn't until I began collecting seriously in the Usan area during 2011, that I really found anything I felt to be more bewitching.

 

3. What do you consider to be the best piece you've ever found and why is it so special?

 

:I have a few pieces that are my favourites, all being from the Angus Coast. The most intriguing to me, would be a plumed agate I collected just this May past, at a location I had been visiting intermittently for almost 7 years. I have written of this piece in extensive detail, the results of which can be read on my website, but put neatly, it's a wonder of great rarity, and also great intricacies, and that is what's most inspiring to me. I knew what it was from the moment I found it. I could see the distinct plumed-patterning on an exposed water-worn face in the dying evening light. It remained very snug in an intimate pocket, while my other finds went in my rucksack, and then it sat for a week on the mantelpiece, where I would marvel and muse upon it daily. Then I cut it, very carefully, but without avoiding a little damage which can happen with heavily tumbled specimens, which often bear fractures close to their smooth surfaces. I thought the plumes were confined to a small "band" running through the stone, the rest appeared to be your usual jasp-agate, fairly common to the area.  I was lucky enough to be able to ask a friend to polish it, so that I could take macro photos of the interior. It was then I noticed that it was literally full of plumes, stuffed really, many of which were quite convoluted and in many colours, including ethereal yellow, sky blue, and a metallic black, with the requisite angus reds and oranges. Most plume agates do not show fine agate banding surrounding the "plume-like" inclusions, however, this one does, and in thrilling intricacy. I believe this piece originated at localities now long lost, and was carried to the Angus Coast via prehistoric rivers.

 

4. What does collecting agates feel like to you?

 

: Fossicking feels like one of the oldest of arts, and so it's also one of the simplest. This makes it beautifully pure. It can be as all consuming or as offhand as you want it to be. It's very easy to partake of fossicking anywhere one pleases. I can remember spending time at a crazy golf course one summer, where the surrounding loose stone/gravel was made up of pebbles of flint. I soon realised that some of these pebbles were actually fossils, specifically "devil's toenails" or Gryphaea which are ancient oysters. I found a few Echinoids also (sea urchins). 

 

You can scamper about hugely intensely throwing your whole mind and soul into finding something wonderous, however often it's during a lapse of concentration, or a distracted moment when you make the most important finds. So it's important to maintain a balance of bloody-minded passion and cool clarity in order to make the best of time spent roving the pebbles.

 

Humankind has always gathered, always hunted, always beachcombed and softly hand-trawled rockpools. Even in times when this was in aid of survival. So undoubtedly extra-curricular curiosities were gathered and given perhaps even a religious or sacred meaning, inspired by their inherent beauty and enigmatic nature.

 

So to me it's a link to the primal, our origins, a meditation akin to being lost in music. The reverie of creation. All useless emotional weight is jettisoned. Obsession to me is just the nature of being utterly focussed, there is a negative connotation there undeserved here. Personally I wanted to find things no one else had, and so proper focus was and is necessary. If that's pretentious then it must simply be that in description, the fire of the act is lost unless words are duly overwrought. In order to be successful, I felt it had to be, in my head, life or death. Which is ridiculous, but it's a useful fancy.

 

That said, fossicking is a method of relaxation for many, a light entertainment, a balm and need be nothing more.

 

It's joyful because the elation and inspiration in the caretaking, investigation and sharing of each piece only increases with time, and in multiple ways. You collect your agate, you fashion it (or you leave it untouched) you photograph it, and then you muse upon it. Again and again you re-evaluate it. Its beauty, its incredible detail, its mere remarkable existence. You can ponder upon its formation if you are particularly brave. On returning to it, each time, after differing spans of time that are life-dependent, you see it again with new eyes. So the joy evolves and in time you only appeciate more of it.

 

It's a link to the coast for me too, which is similarly mysterious and enigmatic. A liminal place, where the jumbled up debris of one world is mixed with anothers and delivered back and forth. 

 

It's mythology in practice.

 

5. What advice would you give to first-time-agate-collectors?

 

: Remember that it's an adventure, so plan accordingly, but simply. There's a joy in that. But then remember that it will be what you wish it to be, so if you require a laid-back and convivial method of getting in touch with the outdoors and yourselves, it can be perfect for that. An open mind is useful, great expectations are not. However, that is not to say that one cannot dream of the perfect find, it's just more useful to recognise that it will probably be in a different guise than your imagining and your appreciation of it and its ilk will change. 

 

I have never found the perfect agate as I imagined it all those years ago, although I have found things that then would be unimaginable to me and utterly eclipse it.

 

A lot depends on your chosen location, insofar as preparation goes. Extra clothing, waterproofs, strong footwear and lunch. Strong trousers too (you will put particular strain on the seams when repeatedly bending over, this can be treacherous). A map (on your phone if possible) should you wish to expand horizons. Coastal locations are my forte', inland locations can be more about traipsing back and forth in a particular muddy field, or investigating a treacherous escarpment.

 

6. Which locations in the U.K are best for beginners?

 

: St Cyrus and Lunan are both beautiful, otherworldly locations, but both (Lunan in particular) can be rather fickle as regards available shingle that is productive of agate. Ferryden and Scurdie Ness still produce good specimens and are easily accessible and close to amenities. It's a good place to go rockpooling as a distraction also. Usan is a little more off-the-beaten-track but searching during low tides is a good way to be successful. That goes for many coastal locations. Go during an outgoing tide, and/or in light rain. Wet shingle makes its inner composition clearer. Balmerino still provides good, mainly smaller examples in fine colour, and is again easy to access. It is also a fine place to have a woodland walk on the shore of the Tay on the paths just above the rather slippy and weedy beach.

 

On the west coast Dunure and Maidens still provide material, especially after heavy weather, during low tides, and if you are prepared to look in less accessible places. Maidens in particular can be a lovely location, again a great place to go rockpooling. Brittlestars in profusion!

 

There are multitudes of inland locations, but proper permissions from landowners are required, excepting Barras Quarry where the landowner seens content for his small quarry to be explored by those thus-inclined.

 

Working your way along the coast from the most productive areas is a great way to explore and is the way I found my own favourite locations, some of which I keep to myself.

 

7. What is one myth or misconception concerning agate collecting that you'd like to disprove?

 

: I'm unsure on myths and misconceptions. As regards fossicking, it is true to say that the more you put in, the more you will get out. You need to be persistant and repeatedly. You mustn't become disenchanted when visiting a location on a single occasion if it isn't productive. There are always others to try, and the coastline is always changing, consistently bringing new material to light, particularly during the dark winter months.

 

8. What should first-time agate collectors do to stay safe out "in-the-field?

 

: You need to tread carefully, and respect the landscape that you are collecting in. If you are particularly successful (which is unusual), you should take only some of the material. Perhaps just your favourites. Particularly if concerning a lot of similarly marked stones. You should leave plenty for others. This is important from an historical and geological point of view. On your first few fossicking excursions, every single find will be exciting and one you wish to take home. Exercise some control, as you progress in experience, and lighten the load on your shelves.

 

You must be respectful of farmland adjoining coastal or inland areas and livestock therein. This of course applies to the wilder areas and wildlife also, though mistreatment of the latter is sadly often less apparent. Do not leave litter of any kind. Take home only the best material (as noted above). Be aware of tides on unfamilar stetches of coast in particular, and fully plan your routes when visiting more precipitous places. I have had to do this in the past to be able to explore some areas that at first seemed inaccessible. 

 

Be safe, and the best way to do this is by knowing your own, personal limitations. If a way down to some tiny unspoilt and horribly enticing cove looks too dangerous and steep, then it probably is. There are still coves that I have never visited for that very reason. No agate is worth serious injury, or even death. Obviously!

 

9. Why is agate collecting such a great activity for children?

 

: I think kids learn to see more in places most just bumble by. Agates, fossils, artifacts etc are all invisible to most. Children learn quickly that there is a lot more to find in careful meditation on beach shingle or stone-studded farm mud than first impressions would suggest, and this fact reflects on many other aspects of life. That said, not all children nowadays will find attention spans conducive to agate-collecting come naturally perhaps. It would be my wish that this might change.

 

My true education only came much later in life, during my 30s when I was able to buy a lapidary saw and so was finally able to cut material that I found regularly, and so investigate the pieces I was curious about, and teach myself how the material I was most interested in, appeared on the outside. Through years of these investigations, I developed an eye for oddities, and this is the eye I have continued to develop. 

 

Children are often happier than adults to be out there clambering about in the muck and slime where agates might best be found!

 

My mum's technique on a shingle beach was to plonk herself down in a comfortable spot, and search the pebbles closest to her, carefully and studiously. While we were all off tumbling about in rockpools, and racing feverishly from the tide swiftly encroaching, she was sat calmly drinking tea and slowly accumulating a small but not insignificant pile of wonderfully tumbled specimens.

 

Slow accumulation of agates in Scotland is the only real way to find the best specimens. Repeated efforts will be rewarded. 

 

Children's inexperience often means they collect a lot of material that isn't agate, often it's quartz. Which is exactly what agate is. A variety of cryptocrystalline (single crystals being so small they are invisible to the naked eye) quartz called chalcedony. Other materials composed of chalcedony include flint, chert, jasper and opal. So they should always be encouraged to keep looking, and that every single interesting pebble they find is valid and special. All that matters is how they themselves perceive it. Scientific identification is secondary and often impossible.

 

Endless encouragement, direction, access to lapidary equipment, and then a few years space perhaps is required, so that children might come back to agates in their own time and find that passion awakened.

 

10. Have you ever personally taken children agate collecting?

 

:  Many times. Kids rarely questioned the validity of looking for interesting pebbles during inclement weather. Perhaps it was just that my insanity was unquestionably valid, and so from then onwards no further questions need be asked. 

 

Adults were often a different matter altogether. To turn your question around, I myself, as a child, bore witness to several adults (with accompanying children) asking my parents in sarcastic, mocking tones if they were "looking for pretty stones?" while we were at Ferryden one sunny holiday afternoon. I think I was distraught at that, being rather severe. My Dad would have just laughed.

 

11. What do you think agate collecting teaches us about time, patience, and the planet itself?

 

: Precisely that, those subjects. Time, patience, and this planet. One other thing. Ourselves and our journey within it.

 

Much scholarly opinion now suggests, that agate formation tends to the rather more long-winded, epic stretch of the scale. Perhaps many thousands of years pass during the formation of just one layer, one band within the stone. "Stone" here at this stage would be perhaps composed of a "gel-like" mass of very slowly solidifying silica. That means our entire civilisation, with all its horrors, bloodshed, romance and study, has all come to pass well within the time it took for the formation of a single clear band of agate. This process only becoming complete, after a passage of many MILLIONS of years.

 

On the other hand, others suggest that the whole process might be over within 30,000 years. Which rather puts things into perspective. 

 

Don't split agates with hammers and chisel folks!

 

12. Has agate collecting changed the way that you look at the world?

 

: It's changed me, and my views of the world, yes. I think it's easy to think, naively, that geologists understand how everything forms in a geological sense, however it's very informed guesswork in many cases. They can analyse the materials involved, identify which elements compose them. They can study shapes, look at the scale, the ways in which materials have interacted, the ways in which materials have become opposed. They can determine ideas via location and careful measurement in the field. However we are talking about vast expanses of time, and so many aspects of formation will never be known. They absolutely obliterate us in terms of time and scale. We are not merely dwarfed, we are obselete. 

 

We're still children out here, wholly in the dark. All politics and associated war, so-called scientific advancement, all the affairs of mankind are not even a blip. If we snuff ourselves out, soon nothing will remain. However, somewhere out there, agates are in the process of formation, and perhaps only a handful of bands might appear, in the time it takes for us to rise up out of the murk, and duly disappear again.

 

That said, this is all the more reason to be truly amazed by and treasure and cherish agates, as what we have is a minescule part only of what has been lost (though who doesn't love the adage: "There is more in the ground than ever came out of it"?). Agates are true wonders of geology and the best of them should not be left to be worn away and destroyed via wind and tide. They should be celebrated and available to everyone to appreciate. That is my onus and the focus of my website.

 

13. In this age of instant gratification, with all of our heads swimming in screens, why does this slow, intimate method of exploration matter more than ever?

 

: Simply because it teaches us great virtues. Patience, persistence, tenacity, curiosity. It teaches us the value of that which lies in the earth, geological treasure, and the fact it is truly beyond us to wholly understand it. So it teaches us humility. Personally, I have also learned how to take macro photographs, solely under the direction of one man. Purely in order to better understand and appreciate that which I seek.

 

Several times in life I have had successful friends question my interest in agates. One came to me to ask me, why? Why dedicate so much time, put so much energy into something that does not make you money? As soon as that question is asked, you know that the inquirer will not appreciate any truthful answer you might give, and instead you might bluff them off with humour, or change the subject. I believe I trailed off about how it wasn't about money. It was about making people aware of something wonderful.

 

I had another, much older friend, a very successful businessman, ask me why I put so much of my lifeblood into what he considered a hobby. It's a great passion to me, I see the inherent importance of it. I deem it worthy of scholarly dedication. Spirit. He mentioned a mutual friend, and his interest in photography, and how that could be translated into a fortune. But this? What use are stones? Where does it lead? You're wasting your time, Jan. You'd be better putting that time, that energy, into money-making schemes.

 

He was right, of course. I have burned away 14 years of my life, chasing pebbles. It's utterly bonkers. I have hunted at night (to take advantage of places where productive areas are only accessible during particularly low tides, which in Scotland, often occur at night) , I have risked life and limb descending and ascending dangerous cliff-paths and gullies to access untouched areas, I have denounced a social life, and given my time to being in the right places, at the most likely times, I have grown to know some landscapes as intimately as my own bedroom, both during daylight hours, and in the dark.

 

It was a lot of time, and it wasn't all just for me, it's tied up deeply in my passion for literature, music, art and creation, yes, but it's out there to be shared. It's out there to inspire. It still occasionally inspires me. 

 

You have your riches, I agree, they make your time easier, you don't need to strive so much just to get by, there is less strife. But where are you in the books you read? The mountains other men climbed? I have gotten some of the way up mine, who knows, it's gotten rather claggy, I may be nearing the top, or a hidden snowy cornice. I may die sad and alone somewhere, but at least I gave one stupid dream a go, one that was in my heart and not one I dreamt up to pay my way. A failed musician, sure, a grub-street writer, an acid casualty, a simple fool. 

 

Collecting agates taught me the value in chasing dreams, real blood and sweat dreams and not those driven by money. It's a bit early perhaps, to adequately gauge how well I have done.

 

From questions first posed to me by Henry Brydon in August 2025, with thanks.