Scotland’s Dinosaur Isle – The Isle of Skye

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n January 1996, a series of footprints of small dinosaurs was discovered in rocks of the Valtos Sandstone Formation. One footprint type was probably produced by a small ornithopod and the other was probably that of a small theropod. Whilst attempting to collect the footprints, Dr Neil Clark of the Hunterian Museum suffered an injury which nearly cost him his right leg. He broke his leg and was airlifted to Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, to recover while others recovered the broken blocks containing the dinosaur footprints which are now in the collections of the Hunterian Museum.

The Valtos Sandstone Formation dinosaur footprints

The single footprint found in 1982 is thought to be that of a large ornithopod due to the broad digits with rounded distal ends, although it was originally described as theropod track. The footprint is nearly 500mm long which is nearly double the size of the 1996 footprints.

Also in 1996, another caudal vertebra was found. This one was much larger than the previous one and was found by Mr Morgan and Mr Ross near Staffin. Although reported in the press as being from the tail of a large theropod, it is actually from the tail of a sauropod akin to Cetiosaurus. Several other bones have been found from the same formation (Valtos Sandstone Formation) although most of these are unidentifiable except in the broadest possible terms such as dinosaur ribs and ?dinosaur bones.

Ulna and radius of the early thyreophoran dinosaur

A year later, in 1997, yet another set of bones was found by Mr Aitken of Edinburgh. These were found in rocks from the Bearreraig Sandstone Formation (Early Bajocian, Middle Jurassic) and were a partial ulna and a partial radius of a thyrephoran dinosaur related to either stegosaurs or ankylosaurs. In a similar manner to the first sauropod limb bone, the bone found by Mr Aitken was subsequently collected by an unknown visitor. This unknown person broke the rock containing the bone and removed leaving a pile of rubble and removing the bone (probably the humerus). Mr Ross collected the rubble and found it to contain the ulna and radius bones of the thyreophoran dinosaur. At least some of the bones of what may be the earliest stegosaur remains have been rescued for science from obscurity into the collections of the Staffin Museum.

Tail bone of a cetiosaur sauropod

The Isle of Skye continues to bear dinosaurian fruits. On average, about one discovery each year and nearly every discovery is of something different and new to Scotland. This means, at the current rate, that it will take over 200 years to collect a complete dinosaur. There is still much to be discovered and learned from dinosaurs on the Isle of Skye. My hope is that material that has disappeared from Scotland’s Dinosaur Isle will eventually be made available for research, and that collecting on behalf of the Scottish museums continues to reap rewards, as it has done over the last 10 years.