Experience: I found a 480-million-year-old fossil in my garden

I found a ball of mud with something pointy sticking out the top. I ran into the kitchen screaming. I was so excited

I love digging in the back garden; I've been doing it for ages. When I was younger, I hoped to reach other countries, or at least get to my neighbour's back garden. During lockdown me and my mummy started digging in the flowerbeds together.

Sometimes, I'd dig for pottery and stuff, but I've always wanted to find a fossil. I like finding out about the past. At school, my favourite subject is history. I've been watching Andy's Prehistoric Adventures on CBeebies since I was three (I'm now six) and I've seen lots of YouTube videos of a guy who searches for megalodon teeth. I knew I had a good chance of finding a fossil, because my house was built on a muddy, limestone substrate, in Walsall, which means millions of years ago, my garden wasn't my garden at all - it was a coral reef.