Meeting an Iguanodontid in Birmingham

After the news story which we featured last year regarding the discovery of an iguanodontid fossil found in a Sunderland garden, I suppose we should be used to having elements of the Ornithopoda turning up in unusual places.  However, team members at Everything Dinosaur were still a little surprised to come across a life-size model of the head of an Iguanodon (we suspect I. bernissartensis), whilst visiting a trade show in the West Midlands.

Iguanodon Makes an Impression at Trade Show

Scale model of an Iguanodon.

Scale model of an Iguanodon.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

We met the charming Martin Simpson, a passionate fossil collector, who with his colleague, told us all about their amazing ammonite and fossilised lobster collection.  Martin, lives on the Isle of Wight, this island off the south coast of England is often referred to as the “Dinosaur Isle”.  The Lower Cretaceous strata that is exposed on some parts of the island has yielded a number of important vertebrate fossil finds including a number of Dinosauria.  Known locally as the “Fossil Man”, Martin has been involved with a number of recent fossil discoveries and we discussed his work on a new genus of pterosaur that had been discovered on the Isle of Wight.

Iguanodon

Some of Martin’s collection is available for sale, so if you have fancied owning a part of the Cretaceous fauna, check out his website; appropriately called: Island Gems.

Martin has promised us that he will pass onto us some more information about the Isle of Wight flying reptile discovery, no doubt we will get the chance to publish more details in this blog.

Always a pleasure to see such wonderful fossils and to talk with fellow enthusiasts.

To read about the Sunderland Iguanodontid: Strange Place to Find an Iguanodontid.