TWO Lyme Regis nature lovers are at loggerheads over how a distinctive sunstone came to be 'ruined.'

Lyme Regis News columnist Clive Spencer (aka Clive of India) told in his column recently how fossil hunters had recently ravaged one of the unusual stones at Pinhay Point with sledgehammers, mistakenly thinking they would find fossils inside it.

But fossil expert David Sole, from Uplyme, told the News this week he was tired of fossil hunters being blamed for the disintegration of the stones, which he says happens naturally.

He said: "I took exception to the claim that fossil hunters have destroyed most of the sunstones near Pinhay Point. "Where's the evidence?

"The fact is that these so called sunstones are not nearly as solid as they appear.

"Unfortunately, they have natural weaknesses within them which become more evident as they are subjected to weathering and the action of the sea, until sooner or later they develop visible cracks and finally break into pieces." Mr Sole said recent storms could easily have destroyed any that had already been weakened by the effects of weathering.

He said: "This is how most of them meet their end, rather than by the actions of fossil collectors. I suggest the case described by Clive was the exception rather than the rule."

To prove his point Mr Sole invited Clive of India to a showdown at Pinhay Point where the two could inspect the stones.

He said: "We easily located three newlyexposed very fine sunstones, also one which was in the process of breaking up showing very clear lines of weakness within it, and then another where just the nucleus remained. None showed evidence of attack by hammer or chisel."

Mr Sole said Mr Spencer agreed that the rocks broke up naturally, and retracted his claim that most had been destroyed by 'fossil-hunting vandals'.

But Mr Spencer told the News he did not concur with the idea that the stones simply fell apart.

He said: "Ones that I observed were pretty solid and needed external force to break them.

"They would not simply have spontaneously disintegrated."

Mr Spencer said it would be nice to save a sunstone from eventual destruction whether from a hammer or the sea.

Mr Sole agreed with him - but warned that the stones were heavy and would need to be housed appropriately because rocks from this 'horizon' in the cliff were unstable and could crack even when kept dry.

He added: "Finally, to any fossil collectors who may be so inclined, these contain absolutely no fossils, so do please leave them alone."