What should we look for?
Don’t miss the large three-toed footcasts of Iguanodon at the base of the cliffs just to the east of Compton Bay car park at Hanover Point. These are between 1 and 2 feet (300–600mm) across. They are stone now, but were formed when mud and sand filled footprints left by the dinosaurs.
Different things are being exposed all the time. The best place to look for fossils is on areas of the beach recently uncovered by the tide, amongst the loose gravel and stones. Fossilised dinosaur bones are most commonly black and shiny, with a honeycomb texture. Dinosaur teeth are sometimes found around here too, looking just like huge black teeth.
It is more common to find examples of lignite, which is fossilised wood. This is also black but it is less dense and there is no honeycomb pattern. Lignite leaves a black mark when scraped on a stone, whereas fossilised bones and flints don’t. Long ago, lightning storms caused forest fires and the charred tree remains were washed down rivers to the coast, they eventually ended up in the cliffs here as wood fossils.