A fossil hunter who quit his full-time job to pursue his hobby says that he now earns an incredible £40,000 a year finding them.

Mark Kemp, 38, started hunting for fossils with a group of friends around 15-years-ago after occasionally collecting them when he was a child.

Nearly three-years-ago, Mark decided to quit his full-time job as an engineer and pursue fossil hunting full-time - and he now earns an incredible £40,000 a year doing this.

He said: "I'm always outdoors - my commute now is literally to the beach and the full Yorkshire coast is my office. "

"I love being outdoors with nature and there's loads of wildlife that I get to see and fossils are absolutely incredible. "

"My biggest joy is taking the fossils home and cleaning them - they have been locked in time for hundreds of millions of years and then I slowly reveal what is inside the rocks. "

"I worked as an engineer but it got to the point where I was so busy looking for fossils on the side so I quit my job and took the plunge."

Mark, a married dad-of-two, says his two main sources of income are guided walks - where he helps people find the petrified remains - and fossil preparation - where he cleans them for other people.

He also goes into schools and museums to talk about them and sells fossils online.

Mark said: "My main source of income is doing guided tours and I get sent fossils from all over the UK and then I clean them. "

"I do a lot of educational stuff, so I go into schools and museums and talk about them."

"I also sell fossils online, I don't earn much from social media as I'm not at that level yet."

Mark now spends the majority of his time hunting for fossils on the East Yorkshire coast, but says he loves cleaning them when he's back home.

He added that his favourite fossil at the moment is a crocodile bone block - a 13.5cm x 12cm block of bone that forms within a crocodile's scales that is around 185 million years old.

Mark said: "There is an option to try and hit something with a geological hammer, but that can cause a lot of damage. "

"I will take the fossil home and use my fossil cleaning kit to clean it."

"I am a collector first and foremost, so if there's anything really good then I will add it to my collection. "

"But if I get seconds or get things that aren't good enough for my collection, then I will sell them."

"I often say I would rather sell my children then any of my fossils."

"My favourite thing changes all the time because every time I look at the fossils, it changes to something different. "

"My crocodile bone brock, which I found in North Yorkshire, is probably my favourite at the minute."

"It is so rare to find crocodile remains."

Mark, who has over 2,000 followers on his YouTube channel 'The Yorkshire Fossil Hunter', says that most people would say that Lyme Regis, Dorset, is the best place to find fossils in the UK.

But he insists that Whitby, North Yorks., and the surrounding area is actually the best place because "the coastline is absolutely huge."

He said: "A lot of people would say Lyme Regis but the Whitby area is really good. "

"I don't really look at one particular spot anymore, I just look at the whole Yorkshire coastline as one big beach because it's all very similar aged rock. "

"I am incredibly biased but 100% I think Yorkshire is the best. "

"The coastline is absolutely huge and there isn't a beach in Yorkshire where you can't find a fossil."

"They are incredible, some of the fossils look like they died yesterday."

Mark, of Hull, East Yorks., says he absolutely "loves" sharing his hobby on social media and wants to encourage more people to get into fossil hunting. "

He said: "I love sharing the hobby, I'm always giving people advice on location on where to go and how to find stuff. "

"There is a ton of resources available online - many collectors make YouTube videos and show the specific location online. "

"There are also local Facebook fossil hunting groups and there is loads of helpful people on there. "

"But do your research - it's really important that people check the tide times and stay away from cliffs, but try to enjoy yourself and have fun."