Student uncovers dinosaur fossil on Welsh beach

A student has discovered the foot of one of the earliest Jurassic dinosaurs on a beach.

Sam Davies made the find while searching for fossils on Lavernock Beach, near Penarth, south Wales.

Mr Davies, in his third year studying paleontology at the University of Portsmouth, said: “It was pure luck that I found it. It was just sitting on top of a slab of rock.”

Experts concluded that it belonged to a fossil that was uncovered after a cliff fall at the beach last year. The dinosaur, a theropod, which lived 200 million years ago, was a miniature distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex. It was about 20in tall and had blade-like, serrated teeth.

Mr Davies, who lives in Bridgend, was urged to visit the beach by his tutor because its Jurassic cliffs are known to be rich in fossils.

Dr David Martill, reader in palaeobiology at Portsmouth, said: “The timing of this was critical. If I hadn’t put Sam on this project, if he hadn’t been there at that time, if the cliff fall hadn’t happened, if the tide had come in, then Sam wouldn’t have found it.”

The complete fossil is on display at the National Museum Cardiff.