Imagine a walk in a sub-tropical landscape, where warm, shallow seas, wide rivers and freshwater lagoons are fringed with dark, dense forests filled with thick swarms of crawling and buzzing insects. Volcanos rumble in the distance, spitting out hot air and ash into the humid atmosphere and the ground occasionally shakes with the constant threat of seismic shocks. Temperatures rarely drop below 20oC and the atmosphere is hot and cloying. The loud cracking of tree trunks and the thump of massive feet tell you in advance that a huge animal is approaching.
This would be your experience of Skye during the Bathonian stage of the Mid-Jurassic period 168 million years ago. Then the Island was part of the southern edge of the supercontinent Pangea, before it would split from the main landmass 1.8 million years later. This was a perfect habitat for life and there was a prolific diversity of species, both tiny and towering; in the air, in the sea and on the land: this was the age of the dinosaur.
While large areas of sedimentary rock were shaping and volcanic lava pushed through the sand, mud and silt to form tabular layers of igneous rock called sills, Jurassic life lived and died and evidence of their presence lies waiting to be discovered inside the ancient layers.
The Isle of Skye holds more than 10 per cent of the world's Middle Jurassic dinosaur species and more than 15 per cent of the Middle Jurassic dinosaur sites, making Skye a palaeontological location of world importance.
Before 1984, public evidence of dinosaurs on Skye was mainly contained in local knowledge. Crofters, as they walked along the Island’s shorelines, were aware of footprints made by primeval beasts, particularly on the Trotternish Peninsula.
The first significant find of the Island’s Mid-Jurassic fossils took place in 1982 when Julian Andrews discovered a 49cm-long footprint in the rock at Rubha nam Brathairean (Brothers Point), near Ellishadder. This was the print of a Tridactyl, a three-toed carnivorous theropod believed to be 168 million years old. It was not until 1984 that this discovery was publicly announced and Skye’s Jurassic coastline was placed firmly on the map of international palaeontologists.
Ten years later, at Valtos beach in 1994, a group of BP geologists made a spectacular discovery when they examined a large lump of what looked like fossilised wood sticking out from a rock that had fallen from the cliff face during a winter storm. They noticed the specimen had been part of a larger piece which had been recently hacked-up and damaged, presumably by collectors.
Suspicious that this may be more than just a lump of wood, the piece was lifted to a safe location and images were sent to the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow which is internationally renowned for its palaeontological collections and research. To everyone’s surprise, the specimen was indeed identified to be not just a bone, but the flared end part of the femur of a large Sauropod — a huge 5-metre-high and 15-metre-long Mid-Jurassic herbivore in the same group as Brontosaurus and Diplodocus. A paper was produced by the Hunterian outlining the importance of this find and this species of herbivore was identified as Celtiosaurus.
Two thirds of the femur is on display at the Staffin Museum in Ellishadder, while a replica is part of the Hunterian Museum’s collection. As a result of the publicity of this unique discovery, an anonymous donation of another part of the same bone was made to the Hunterian who later redirected it to the Staffin Museum. In the accompanying letter, the donor explained he had mistaken the piece for a lump of fossilised wood. The third and final section is still in the possession of a former local couple who also mistook the bone for wood.
Since then, there has been one or two major finds of Mid-Jurassic fossils every year, giving the Isle of Skye the global reputation for being the Dinosaur Isle.
As well as fossils and footprints of dinosaurs, Skye has revealed surprising evidence of other species that lived in the Mid-Jurassic period such as mammals, marine life, lizards and amphibians, including salamanders and turtles.
Significant finds
1992 - Heaste
The first of Skye’s dinosaur bones was found in a stream near the southern township of Heaste by a German man called Matthias Metz. The bone was examined by a specialist who recognised it as the partial right tibia belonging to a Ceratosaurus — a carnivorous horned theropod. The bone was donated to the National Museum of Scotland and represents the first clear record of dinosaur body fossils in Scotland.
1994 - Heaste
Dr Neil Clark, Curator of Palaeontology at the Hunterian Museum, discovered a complete femur belonging to Coelophysis, a small carnivorous raptor.
1996 - Port Earlish
A set of nine footprints from at least two different dinosaurs was found embedded in a sandstone block by Dr Neil Clark of the Hunterian Museum.
2002 - An Corran, Staffin
While walking her dog on the beach, local woman Cathy Booth discovered a set of dinosaur footprints that had been uncovered by a storm. She informed Dugald Ross of the Staffin Museum and, along with Dr Neil Clark and her husband Paul, they uncovered a new set of dinosaur footprints — all between 30 and 50cms long. These footprints, 18 in all, of three-toed Megalosaurus are the most accessible of their kind on the Island and hunting the beach for them provides a popular visitor activity. There are also footprints of long-necked sauropods on the beach. It should be noted that these footprints may prove very difficult to find by the untrained eye. Erosion has worn them and drifting sand, seaweed and high tides often conceal their whereabouts. The best time to see them is during winter at low tide.
2002 - Score Bay, Duntulm
Multiple footprints were found by Paul Booth and Dugald Ross. These prints are from a large animal and around four smaller ones, have been identified as belonging to both adult and juveniles, possibly hatchlings, 18cms long and 7cm high. In 2006, Dr Neil Clark discovered another small dinosaur print at the same location. At only 10cms in length, the footprint find was verified as being the world’s smallest.
2008 - Cladach-a-Ghlinne, Strathaird
The remains of a new species of primitive turtle, Eileanchelys waldmani, were found on this remote beach near Loch Scavaig during an expedition led by Dr Michael Waldman of Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. Alongside the turtles were found fossils of other aquatic animals such as sharks and salamanders.
2016 - Cladach-a-Ghlinne, Strathaird
“Evolution in action” was the phrase coined for a fossil of a 166-million-year-old tiny lizard discovered in a rock by a team led by Oxford University and the National Museum of Scotland. Although the skeleton of Bellairsia gracilis is only 6cm long, the perfectly formed new specimen tells us what today’s lizard ancestors looked like.
2017 - Port Earlish near Brothers Point, Ellishadder
International headlines were made when the world’s largest Pterosaur — a flying dinosaur with a wingspan believed to be around 2.6 to 3.8 metres (wingspans of specimens from later period were found to be a mind-blowing 15 metres) — was found protruding from the rocks by PhD student Natalia Jagielska during a National Geographic-funded field trip led by Prof Steve Brusatte, of the University of Edinburgh. The unique species was so well preserved that around 70% of it was intact. Named Dearc Sgiathanach (Gaelic for winged reptile) it is now part of the National Museum of Scotland’s extensive collection. A paper was published in Current Biology, authored by scientists from the University of Edinburgh, National Museums Scotland, the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, the University of St Andrews and Staffin Museum.
2018 - Elgol
Leading expert in mammal fossils, Dr Elsa Penciroli, found a fossilised skull of a small mammal on the shore between Elgol and Camasunary. X-ray scanning revealed that these mouse-like rodents lived around 166 million ago and were new to science. They named the new species Borealestes Cuillinesis, after its jagged teeth were thought to resemble the Cuillins. The tiny skull discovery was published in The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society in 2021 and is now part of the collection of the National Museum of Scotland. Another such fossil had been found in the same place in 1982 and named Borealestes serendipitus, translated into “northern rogue, found by chance.” A study of the bones was published the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology.
2020 - Rubha nam Brathairean, Ellishadder
Multiple footprints of dinosaurs such as Deltapodus, three-toed carnivorous therapods and large-bodied ornithopods were discovered on the beach at Brothers Point by palaeontologist Paige dePolo after a storm revealed their location.
Staffin Dinosaur Museum
The Staffin Dinosaur Museum in Ellishadder was established by local crofter Dugald Ross in 1976. An expert and enthusiast in palaeontology and local history, Dugald plays an invaluable part in the findings, safeguarding, study and research of Skye’s Jurassic fossils and has been instrumental in raising the profile of Skye’s unique geology locally, nationally and internationally.
Dugald’s collection includes interesting artefacts from the by-gone years of culture and agriculture on Trotternish, but it is the palaeontological exhibits revealing the Island’s Jurassic past that form the main attraction.
Bones, teeth, footprints and the fossilised shells of marine life are all on view inside the former byre and Dugald’s enthusiasm and expert knowledge of the species he has identified in the area (including Stegosaurus, Megalosaurus, Cetiosaurus, Hadrosaurus, and Ceolophysis) as well as where to find the footprints, is part of the museum experience.
In 2019, Dugald published his first book with Sarah White. Entitled Jurassic Skye: Dinosaurs and Other Fossils of the Isle of Skye, the fully-illustrated 62-page work is the first of its kind to document Skye’s finds from the Mid-Jurassic period to the date of publication.
Fossil collecting
Five areas of Skye’s coastline are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Nature Conservation Areas (NCO). Within these areas, the collection and/or removal of vertebrate fossils by unqualified members of the public is a criminal offence.
Furthermore, it is an offence to:
- Damage, excavate and attempt to excavate vertebrate fossils, using either hand-held tools (such as sledge hammers, crow bars) or mechanical means (includes rock saws).
- Infill vertebrate trace fossils with paint or plaster or other materials.
- Remove vertebrate fossils (body and trace).
- Dump or undertake construction works which damage or cover trace fossils.
To find out where these areas are, visit the NatureScot website.
Invertebrate fossils may be collected responsibly but please be aware of and follow the Scottish Fossil Code when attempting to do so.
- Seek relevant permissions to access land
- Collect responsibly – Keep damage to a minimum and record details, including location.
- Seek advice – Speak to an expert if you think your fossil is unusual. Dugald Ross of the Staffin Dinosaur Museum should be your first port of call.
- Label and look after your fossil.
- Consider donating your find to an accredited museum.