The Isle of Wight and Dinosaurs

We spent the last four days on the Isle of Wight on the last of our family trips this summer holiday. It's not actually far from here- only 35 minutes to the ferry but the ferry takes about 90 minutes (with checking in time too). As the Isle of Wight is one of the top ten sites on the planet for dinosaur fossils, it became a mini-break of fossil hunting, dinosaur museums and dino-themed amusements for the kids. We inadvertently timed our visit with the arrival of ex-hurricane Erin which made camping a bit more exciting and sleeping quite challenging. 

We stayed at Grange Farm which is situated on the south west coast where the geology is comprised of the Wealden Formation which is famous for it's dinosaur fossils. In fact it was Grange Chine, our campsite, where the first Neovenator was discovered HERE.

We arrived on Sunday and after setting up camp we did a bit of exploring on the beach. On Monday we headed to Dinosaur Isle, a local council run museum which hosts the best fossil collection on the island. On Tuesday we spent the day at the Needles and in the evening we had a fossil walk with the local company Island Gems HERE. Today we spent the morning at the Whiteheart Animal Sanctuary, where circus tigers, lions and bears etc are re-homed and in the afternoon we visited Island Gems fossil shop at Godshill before getting the ferry back.

As dinosaurs stole the show, the birding took a back seat to their ancestors but I did pick up a couple of Ruff and a Green Sandpiper next to the museum and there was a bit of Yellow Wagtail and hirundine movement going on over the campsite.   

Looking forward to return to continue the search for our first dinosaur fossil find. There is a really good chance of finding a dinosaur bone fragment. 

Female and male juvenile Ruff- dino-descendents. These were feeding in the pool by the roadside next to Dinosaur Isle museum. 

Iguanadon footprint (natural cast) at Hanover Point

Despite a bit of seaching, we didn't find any dinosaur fossils but did find this prehistoric pine cone, a few molluscs and lots of fossil wood. After our recee this week will certainly return in the autumn/winter when there are more fossils to be found (due to less fossil hunters and more storms eroding the fossils out of the cliffs)

Dinosaur coast, looking east from Hanover Point with our guide, Tegan from Island Gems HERE

The famous Alum Bay sands (above) and the Needles (below). Fascinating geology on the Isle of Wight and a lot more going on than just the dinosaur fossils too with plenty of fossils from other lithologies and pre-historic periods. The website DinoWight was full of interesting information HERE

Jacob- happy dino-hunter. A bit closer to home than our last dinosaur expedition to Broome in Australia where Jacob also got to see a Brachiosaurus and a Megalasaurus footprint HERE.