Storms reveal huge dinosaur footprint on beach

A palaeontologist has discovered a huge dinosaur footprint on a beach on the Isle of Wight.

Fossil guide Joe Thompson said the 130-million-year-old Iguanodon print at Shepherd's Chine was the best footprint he had ever found.

The three-toed shape, which is almost 1m (3ft) across, was revealed after storms stripped the beach of shingle.

Mr Thompson described the find as "really lucky", adding it would wash away in "a few months".

Iguanodons were large herbivores, measuring up to 11m (36ft) long and weighing up to 4.5 tonnes.

Mr Thompson said he had been looking for fossilised bones on the beach near Atherfield when he spotted a "big purple toe" in a gap in the shingle.

Joe Thompson conducts fossil tours on the Isle of Wight and in Highcliffe, near Christchurch

He said: "Anything that's that old and that exciting - it gives you such a rush, especially a huge, almost 1m-long footprint just lying on the beach.

"It just makes you think about everything that happened before humans even existed."

Mr Thompson conducts tours for Wight Coast Fossils and has recently launched South Coast Fossils, offering fossil walks at Highcliffe, near Christchurch.

He advises anyone who finds a dinosaur footprint to photograph it, preferably with something like a shoe for scale, and send the picture to a local museum or expert for identification.

He said: "It's a shame they are not completely permanent - they do wash away after a period.

"In the mud, it will only be around for a few months at the most."

Mr Thompson said the footprint was in the "top 10" of all his fossil finds "because it's such a beautiful example".

"It's probably the best footprint I've discovered myself," he said.