Britain’s smallest county yields up largest ‘Sea Dragon’


Image credit: Matthew Power


Let’s face it, we all love a dinosaur (or ichthyosaur) story, don’t we? And this one is a corker! Just imagine Joe Davis’ sheer elation at discovering a 180 million year old fossil in his local reservoir. The fossilised remains of Britain’s largest ichthyosaur, known as a ‘Sea Dragon’, have been discovered at Rutland Water Nature Reserve. The remains were discovered by Joe Davis, Rutland Water Conservation team leader, during the routine draining of a lagoon island for re-landscaping.


To date, it is the largest and most complete skeleton of its kind found in the UK and is also thought to be the first ichthyosaur of its species found in the country.


Davis and reserves officer Paul Trevor set off across the lagoon when Joe noticed what looked like clay pipes sticking up out of the mud, except that “they looked organic.”


Davis says: “I worked out in the Hebrides, so I’ve found whale and dolphin skeletons before. This appeared similar and I remarked to Paul that they looked like vertebrae. We followed what indisputably looked like a spine and Paul discovered something further along that could have been a jawbone. We couldn’t quite believe it.


“The find has been absolutely fascinating and a real career highlight, it’s great


to learn so much


from the discovery and to think that this amazing creature was once swimming in seas above us, and now once again Rutland Water is a haven for wetland wildlife albeit on a smaller scale!”


Here’s how the ichthyosaur might have looked – image credit Bob Nicholls Artwork


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