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The
Fossil Hunting information previously on this page has now moved
HERE
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The
Island - An Introduction
The Isle
of Wight is a small island located off the south coast of England
near Swanage and Portsmouth, and is the little diamond-shaped island
at the bottom of maps of the United Kingdom.
The best
way to get there is from Portsmouth by Hovercraft and Fast-Cat,
which takes you to Ryde, or Car Ferry, which takes you to Fishbourne.
There is a train (which used to be decorated with brightly coloured
dinosaurs, but they've removed them now, which is a shame) to Sandown
that runs from the Fast-Cat port at Ryde, and goes near the hover-port.
To get around it is possible to use the buses, but it is probably
better to take a car, as the buses are very irregular in that region,
and are apparently the most expensive in the UK, although you can
get an Island Rover ticket that lets you go anywhere on the Island
for under a tenner
Other
pages that might be useful include
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DinoWight
FAQ, which has answers to most of
the simple questions, as well as a few more complicated ones
DinoWight Geology, a guide to the
geology of the Isle of Wight
DinoWight Localities, where to
find dinosaurs on the Isle of Wight
DinoWight Palaeoecology,
a guide to how the dinosaurs lived together and interacted
DinoWight Fossil-hunters, the (brief)
history of fossil hunting on the Isle of Wight
DinoWight Museums, a guide to the
dinosaur museums that are scattered across the Isle of Wight
DinoWight Glossary, a list of
technical terms, so you know what a prezygapophysis is...
DinoWight References, so you
can check the original sources that I and many others have
used
DinoWight "not-dinosaurs",
A list of animals and plants that shared the Isle of Wight
with the dinosaurs, but weren't dinosaurs
DinoWight Toys, a list of toys that
represent the dinosaurs that are found on the Isle of Wight
DinoWight News, where you can find
out about new finds on the Isle of Wight
DinoWight Acknowledgements
- who helped to build DinoWight and make it a success
DinoWight - The Author - the person
responsible for DinoWight
DinoWight Contact - How to contact
the Author if you have any questions
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Further
Reading
This
are a limited list of books that are especially for people interested
in the Isle of Wight geologically and palaeontologically. There
are also many scientific papers available, the information from
which has been used heavily in these books and on DinoWight, but
a select list of these can be found on the DinoWight
reference page. Many of these are available from university
libraries, and from certain larger libraries, but some are available
on-line. You can get them from these
sites, or directly from me (See references,
or http://www.geocities.com/dinowightpapers)
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Click
on the covers for a larger image
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You
could
do a lot worse than get The Geologists' Association Guide
to the Isle of Wight, by Allan Insole, Brian Daley and
Andy Gale. It is only £12.00 from the British Geological
Survey shop at the Natural
History Museum. It features walking guides to see the
geology, but does not focus much on the dinosaurs found
at each locality. It is also a bit out of date and apocryphal,
as it suggests using Cowleaze Chine for access to the beach,
although last time I tried this it was 10 metres from Cowleaze
Chine to the beach; straight down. This book is more for
the geologists among you.
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Another
book is Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight, by David
M. Martill and Darren Naish. This book is published by the
Palaeontological
Association, and so contains information on every single
dinosaur and pterosaur ever found on the island, except
the new velociraptorines
and Caulkicephalus.
This book is sold at Dinosaur
Isle and all good geological bookshops for £16.00. This
is probably the only book you will need for dinosaur hunting
on the Island, as it has a lot of information, and even
has a guide for fossil walks.
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Another
excellent book is Fossil Hunting on Dinosaur Island,
by Martin Simpson. Mr Simpson knows almost everything there
is to know about Isle of Wight palaeontology, and is something
of a celebrity among the Isle of Wight collecting fraternity,
and it shows here. More aimed at families with young children,
this book not only covers the dinosaurs, but ammonites,
plants, sharks and all the other fossil groups found on
the island. There are also fieldtrip guides and a safety
guide, and best of all, it is incredibly cheap! Definitely
worth getting!
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There
is also a local guide, Guidelines for Collecting Fossils
on the Isle of Wight, produced by English Nature, available
from the Dinosaur Isle museum
shop.
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Finally,
there is a book called Dinosaur Island. This has
been out of print for a while, and is incredibly out of
date (Neovenator doesn't
have a name and the Hypsilophodon
beds were created by the poor Hypsi's
being trapped in quicksand!). Still, it has a bit of info
on other fossils from the island, as well as several nice
exclusive (to my knowledge) pictures of fossils (although
several are printed upside down!) It's out of print, but
I'm fairly sure much of the contents will be in the Dinosaur
Isle museum guidebook (which I don't have), but it may
be available from second-hand bookshops on the island and
in Portsmouth...
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