Dinosaur diaries

The newsletter for Dinosaur Isle; the premier dinosaur museum in southern England.

In this issue

2006 exhibition Out of Africa - Dinosaurs of a lost world.

Displaying local finds. A model of Baryonyx – the biggest predatory dinosaur on the Isle of Education News. Wight. Model made by Steve Hutt.

Field trips.

A new French Guide.

5 Years on. 1 Issue 2, December 2006 Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Introduction Contents Welcome to the second edition of Out of Africa – summer exhibition 3 Dinosaur Diaries, the newsletter Green Island Awards 6 for Dinosaur Isle. Parlez vous Franglais? 7 This issue attempts to give a flavour of some of the things we did in 2006; but we have Education News 8 been so busy that it has been slightly late Experimental Clay Project 10 coming out. If you want to see an article about something we have missed then please contact As seen on TV 12 us. Field Trips 13 Much has happened at Dinosaur Isle since the School find 14 first version of the newsletter appeared. There have been a number of changes to the Displaying local finds? 15 organization we are part of. The Museum The Fox Project 16 Service has gone, and now we are part of the new Isle of Wight Heritage Service. Adverts Then and now – 5 years on 17 for other parts of the Service continue to be Website changes 20 included at the end of this newsletter. Summer visitors 21 A number of television companies have been filming at the museum and on the local beach. Shop News 22 The arrival of the new Prehistoric Park series African Dinosaur Wordsearch 23 on the television may have had something to do with this, but Dinosaurs are always popular News from the I.W. Heritage Service 24 with all ages. Out-of-season schools accommodation 26 Dinosaur Diaries is available free on our Artworks 27 website as a downloadable document. The format is pdf, and it can be accessed from the webpage www.dinosaurisle.com/newsletter.aspx

See www.dinosaurisle.com for About us … further information and news about us and what we do. Dinosaur Isle is a museum and visitor attraction - displaying fossils, especially dinosaurs, from the Isle of Wight. As part Produced by of the Isle of Wight Council we are responsible for the ongoing conservation, Dinosaur Isle display and interpretation of a collection of Culver Parade fossils that started life in the early Sandown nineteenth century, and which has been Isle of Wight passed down through the care of PO36 8QA generations of curators. We aim to pass on the collection unharmed to future Editor: Trevor Price generations (enhanced by our own collecting Community Learning Officer. and acquisitions, and those donated by the All articles by TP unless stated otherwise. public). 2 © 2006 Dinosaur Isle, Isle of Wight Council Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Out of Africa Dinosaurs of a lost world Summer exhibition 2006

This years summer exhibition is drawing to a close. Did you see it? What was it all about? Each year we put on a themed exhibition which accompanies the existing displays. For 2006 the theme was African dinosaurs. During the 19th Century Africa was an inhospitable and mostly inaccessible continent, with explorers and missionaries suffering incredible privations, hardships, disease and expense to reach and map out new regions. Amongst theses intrepid pioneers were a small number of fossil hunters including Richard Markgraf, Professor Fraas and Dr Werner Janensch who explored Africa just before the First World War. These German fossil hunters found remains of hitherto unknown and exciting large dinosaurs.

Of interest to us are three types of African dinosaur; the long necked sauropods, ornithopods like Iguanodon and a large meat eating dinosaur called Spinosaurus. Why? you might ask … well these animals are related to some of the dinosaurs on the Isle of Wight. What makes this unusual is that at the beginning of the Cretaceous (about 125 million years ago) a large And what of next years exhibition? We ocean called the Tethys can say that it is on a different scale and separated Europe from from an entirely different time-zone; and Africa. Fossil evidence that preparations are already underway. from the sea-floor of the Mediterranean shows that Read about it in the next newsletter or these dinosaurs may have on the webpage island-hopped across the www.dinosaurisle.com/exhibition.aspx narrower part of the ocean between Spain and 3 Morocco. For further details please contact Steve Hutt at Dinosaur Isle. Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Out of Africa building a sandpit model

Most children love making a mess! So this year we made a large sandpit and stocked it with some replicas of Stromer’s Spinosaurus bones. 3) Rubber moulds are made of all of the parts; in this case the finger bones and claws.

1) The first task, after researching published data on the skeleton, is to make some small scale clay models from which to 4) The final items are cast in a hard make the full size items that will go plaster ready to paint. into the pit.

2) Full size replicas are then 5) The finished items are then made in modelling clay. placed into the sandpit ready to be discovered by thousands of eager children (and parents) It is not always the children who get armed with brushes and goggles. carried away in the sandpit; we saw an activity centre organizer having fun getting everyone covered in 4 sand, you know who you are … Photographs supplied by Lora Apps

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Out of Africa Last year Steve made a full size mdf cutout of a Tyrannosaurus building a full-size 2D rex that was mounted on the Spinosaurus front of our lab. This gave our visitors some idea of the scale of this fearsome creature. This 1) The first task is to year he decided to create a draw up a plan, and to similar model of a Spinosaurus try out some to show just how much bigger it different colour was than T. rex. schemes

2) Then cut the mdf panels to shape and apply the first coats of paint.

3) An airbrush is used to apply the final colour and camouflage.

Photographs supplied by 4) Finally use a ‘cherry-picker’ Lora Apps to place the panels in position. The comparison with T. rex soon becomes apparent, Spinosaurus Keep an eye on our website to see what we have planned for is both taller and longer, but the 2007 Summer Exhibition lacks the powerful, crushing 5 jaws of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Green Island Awards

For the second year running Dinosaur Isle was awarded the Gold Standard at the Green Island Award ceremonies at Cowes on the 25th of May 2006.

In addition to its Gold Award for meeting strict criteria for its environmental impact Dinosaur Isle was nominated for Attraction of the Year alongside Ventnor Botanical Gardens and Chessel Pottery Barns. Dinosaur Isle and Ventnor Botanical Gardens (the winner) are both currently run by the same part of the Isle of Wight Council thus demonstrating the Council's efforts in reducing its environmental footprint.

The awards were presented at the prestigious Cowes Yacht Haven. Peter Pusey (general manager) and Trevor Price (Community Learning Officer) represented the museum at the presentation.

Over 90 tourism related businesses are taking part in the scheme and the trend is for this number to increase in future years.

For further information why not access the website http://www.greenislandtourism.org

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Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Parlez vous Franglais?

It has long been my aim to produce some brief guide leaflets for our overseas visitors. The first of these (a French version) has now been produced, and is available to be downloaded from our website. We will also have a small quantity available in printed form at the museum.

The process started with my predecessor submitting some English text to one of those software translator programmes. When we got the result back and tried it on a visiting French school teacher he couldn’t stop laughing, telling us it had obviously just substituted the nearest French word it could find. After this attempt, we got more comments from a visiting French family. It still wasn’t right because of the extent of the corruption by the original programme. The auto-translation had pretty well butchered the original text so it was passed to a former member of staff who is French.

After much re-writing the leaflet is l has a now finished; the result is a schoo t and your rtmen If depa at double-sided A4 colour sheet. uages a go lang o have rman like t or Ge The end result could not have been would utch to ng a D ld like oduci e wou produced without the hard work put pr hen w sion t in by Anne Yvonne Baker to whom I ver you. r from am extremely grateful. hea

Copies can be downloaded from the webpages www.dinosaurisle.com/info.aspx or www.dinosaurisle.com/about_us.aspx 7 (files are in acrobat pdf format).

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Education News

The 2006 school year started in January with a visit by a local Reception class, followed by a number of visits from an Island secondary school where we were able to provide support for the Evolution component of their GCSE Biology. The remainder of January and February saw the slow build up of visiting schools which peaks each year in June. In February I was asked to go to Sandown Primary School to provide two sessions on Rocks and Soils to their Year 3 classes. I arrived with a Landrover full of rocks, fossils and some big cola bottles pre-filled with sand, clay and soil to show how water percolates through different soils (a messy, but fun experiment). I was shown into a classroom and the memories flooded back. This was my classroom when I went to the school a long time ago. It seemed just as cluttered with interesting objects (if a little smaller than I remember). February also saw a visit by a Home Education Group, and our lead in an experimental clay project (see the next article for details). March saw the build up of the visiting mainland schools and the beginnings of the many field trips we lead for schools each year. Our A-level geology session with Ryde High School took place again with their pupils conducting a logging exercise over two days in the field, followed by a session back at the museum on the third day to tie it all together. We saw visits from two European groups hosted by Ryde High School (French and Italian students here on exchange), and we had a visit from a Belgian school to whom we had to give a presentation. In April our Education Room was used for a carers assessment and for some visiting SEN adults. After the school holidays the museum was filled with schools from the UK mainland. We went to the Lyme Regis Fossil Fair, and I had an opportunity on the Friday to follow a number of local Dorset schools as they used the facilities provided there. We came back with a number of ideas.

Also in April the National Lottery awarded Dinosaur Isle a Blue Plaque in recognition of its contribution towards the educational experience it provides for school children. 8

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 May, June and July were intensive months (with almost 70 educational groups in May and over 80 in June. The Isle of Wight Walking Festival was as popular as ever. I am a marshal on ‘Walk the Wight’ each year. Thousands of people attempt to walk across the Island from east to west - and this year’s event saw a number of local schools taking part. It raises money for an Island Hospice – a truly worthwhile cause. We also started ‘Dinostroll’ as part of the Walking Festival – an event for under-8’s and their parents – it involves a story-telling session at Sandown library – a story-telling walk along our local beach - and a reduced price entry to Dinosaur Isle.

June saw the start of a re-engineering project for our local car-park, and we were able to put in some suggestions for a safer walk-way (we go through the car-park, on the way to the beach, for our field trips). I was also able to attend the Launch Conference for the new Local Safeguarding Children Board, and visited Summerfields Primary School to provide two sessions on Dinosaurs to their Reception and Year 1 children as part of a dinosaur study day. The dinosaur day at the school saw the teachers wearing our dinosaur heads, and children ‘roaring’ and ‘mooing’ as they tried to interpret how dinosaurs may have sounded. A very lively, and deafening! day.

During July we hosted a number of visiting language students (through EF Language) - here to improve their already excellent language skills and to learn about the best dinosaur site in Europe! We collected a large globe, with the 3D continents placed where they were in the Early Cretaceous about 120 million years ago. We now need to acquire a rotating base and to design an interpretation panel for it. August was quiet for schools - but is the busiest time of the year for families, including a number of children from schools who came back with their parents. Television crews invaded the museum for children's programmes and a national German series. In September, after the holidays, the schools came back again, and we ran an Extinction themed session for Ryde Junior School. I led a trip to Hanover Point to support a site-visit by an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) conference. October saw the start of an Island-wide project to encourage school use of museums for Key-Stage 4; and we saw our first flurry of first-year geology and palaeontology undergraduates. The year ended with planning for next year, collecting material for the Education Room (including a large quartz pegmatite from Snowdon – kindly donated by Nina Taylor - collected many decades ago). By the end of December we had seen close to 10,000 educational students 9 and 1200 teachers, learning assistants, governors and support staff.

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Geology has always been a fascinating subject to me, and there are so many exciting areas Community that can be studied. Experimental Clay However when trying to introduce a sceptical Project - 2006 public to the joys of what may be a favourite subject to you just how do you find a way of inspiring them?

The aim Early in January 2006 I started an experimental project on the natural clays of the Isle of Wight. The aim was to introduce learners to the variety of clays on the island – we did this by getting them to collect samples of clay from various beaches, make them into pots and other clay objects, fire them using an ancient technique and then finally compare them with Neolithic items held in the Isle of Wight Heritage Service’s collection. Records were kept of which clay was used in order to see if any were more suitable than others.

Who took part Participants included the Isle of Wight branch of the A fired pot made from clay of the Seagrove Young Archaeologist’s Club, the local Neolithic studies Bay Member. The clay was deposited over group who were investigating ancient farming techniques the north-east of the Island about 35 million on the Island, and a number of local archaeologists. years ago. Although the English Channel was Access was provided to some of the county’s ancient yet to form as we know it today there were clay pot fragments at the Ryde store. warm shallow-marine seas in which were deposited fine clays and sands. The Seagrove Bay Member is internationally The geology bit important; the sediments provide evidence of the climate and ecology of the time. The Isle of Wight is made of many types of sedimentary rocks; including limestones like the white Chalk, sandstones, mudstones and clay. There are many Firing (and repairing the damage!) different types and colours of clays exposed all around Retrieving the pots and other items from its coastline which provided a useful starting point. the fire after a few days proved somewhat difficult. This was an adult-only day for The clays used ranged in age from 124 million year old safety reasons. There had been some rain blue, grey and pink Wessex silty-mudstones collected at before the turf on the fire could be Yaverland to 35 million year old black and bright-green removed and a number of the pots near the clays from the Seagrove Bay Member. The bright blue top had exploded. The pots nearer the base Chale Clay was also collected from Yaverland. Lumps of had survived reasonably well, as had a Chalk, and fossil snails, were collected to add to the mix number of clay beads. The fire was still so of clays. hot that even with gloves and oven tongs I managed to develop a sun-tan! Back at Dinosaur Isle members of the Collecting the clay Young Archaeologists’ Club glued some of The collecting started in a very cold January and the pots back together and it became continued into February. Tubs of clay were filled and apparent that a few of the pots had sorted into marked bags ready to use. This was the distorted in the heat. There was no first hint that the project was going to get very messy! relationship to the type of clay or the size of pot, so the distortion may have occurred The clays were made into pots at Dinosaur Isle on two as a result of other factors like the heat or separate occasions by the adults’ and children's groups. water content. After the pots had dried we moved to Joy’s spacious garden where we were able to fire the pots in the base 10 of a bonfire, using turfs to keep in the heat.

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 A tile Record keeping I chickened out of making a pot and decided instead A record was kept of the type of clay used for to make a medieval floor tile. I drew a pattern into each pot and it seemed that all of the clays we the green clay slab and placed a white pasty-clay used were possible candidates for ancient made from young Oligocene rocks into the groove. It potters on the Island. Although the coastline survived firing and I was pleased that it had worked. would have been very different then the geology Delian’s clay beads all survived, as did a very fragile of the Island was such that all of the clays we ornamental ‘tree’. used should have been exposed thousands of years ago, and available to our ancestors. Outcomes Samples of the clay pots were compared with fragments of ancient pottery held at the museum collection at Ryde, and it was hard to see any differences either in hand specimen or down the microscope. Powdered chalk and fossil snails were mixed in to some of the clay to see if we could match the fabric of some ancient pot fragments in the museum collections - and in the end they matched extremely well. I understand this mix gets called ‘grog’ by archaeologists. It was relatively easy to make the pots although the whole process took some time. Given that the pots are not all that robust and Neolithic pottery usually only survives as fragments the original pots were possibly treated as disposable items. I had heard that this kind of pottery, when it is found in the ground, is described as being like wet ‘dog biscuit’. Our final pots looked like dog biscuit that had been put in a fire. I don’t think there would have been many dogs who would have eaten it though…

Evaluation In conclusion When the project was over we held two group we were surprised at some of the outcomes. evaluations (one for the adults and one for the • The fabric of our pots were remarkably similar children). The oldest and youngest clays turned out to ancient pottery. to be the best to use. The Gault Clay was difficult to shape, but fired well. Several members acquired • The Gault Clay had not been expected to new skills in shaping the pots. The adults marked the survive firing because it has a very high Iron project as 5 out of 5 for enjoyment, with both Sulphide content, but we got good pots from it. adults and children identifying the making and • Some of the Seagrove Bay Member clays reassembly of the broken pots as the most remained a beautiful green when the pots were enjoyable part. The adults were inspired to go and first made but went black or brick-brown when collect more clay, and to try to build a sled or fired. This was by far the best clay to use but basket to transport the clay. The adults expressed all of the other clays, including the Wessex interest in making a display of the outcome of the Formation clays proved useable. project in our Education Room.

Progression After we had finished the experimental work a number of the ‘Neolithic farmers’ went away and tried some different firing regimes. They had more success with the pots surviving. We think that we may have overheated some of our first pots and had not allowed them to cool down for long enough before exposing them to the air.

The project attracted more individuals as the weeks rolled by. It was good fun and there is an enthusiasm to repeat the experiment with a wider audience if we can get a safe place to do the firing. This project would not have happened without the enthusiasm and help of Delian Backhouse-Fry from the Young Archaeologists’ Club, Joy Verrinder Using a microscope to look at the from Carisbrooke Castle Museum, Corina Westwood fabric of one of the pots the group 11 from the Isle of Wight Heritage Service and a made. host of other volunteers.

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 As seen on TV

This summer we were inundated with requests for filming. During the early part of August the BBC filmed two shows. The first was a live broadcast for BBC South Today (the regional early-evening news show). Steve heroically took on the role of local expert, and along with a group of local children did a great job of demonstrating the fossil potential at the nearby beach. This was merged with some pre-recorded material back at the museum, and the coverage, presentation and acting was excellent. However there is a saying “never work with children or animals”, and for those who saw the show, there was one young girl who stole the limelight and who is destined to go far on TV!

Hot on the heals of the live show The day after CBBC were here we had a was another for the BBC, the film crew producing a show for very young CBBC channel for young children. children. This will go out later in the year Again Steve did his bit with for Channel 5’s Milkshake show. Trevor filming in the museum, showing took on this role, wearing a white lab coat how dinosaur fossils are formed, (apparently lab coat = instant expert in found, cleaned and displayed in television land). This shoot followed a museums. theme of – well you will just have to watch the show to find out …

Early in September we played host to a German film crew who turned up with more boxes, cameras, equipment, crew and extras than all of the other visits combined. We became the headquarters of a fictitious company for the day and Dinosaur Isle was made over for a few hours. For those who were passing, and were familiar with the building it must 12 have been a strange sight…

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Each year we like to get as many of our visitors as possible out of the building Field trips and take them to sites where they can see the spectacular geology of the Island - and perhaps collect some fossils at the same time. The site visits are led by our professional staff and we try to run them all year. During the Easter and Summer holidays we run extra trips. Over the last few years these walks along the coast have steadily increased, supporting the Council’s drive for improving the health of local communities. What better way to blow away those cobwebs than with an For a list of planned public trips excursion to the beach in please see our webpage February! www.dinosaurisle.com/events.aspx

We normally use our local beach at Yaverland (shown during winter in the photograph) but last year I experimented with an additional public site. Both sites show excellent exposures of the early to mid-Cretaceous geology of the Island, and exhibit a variety of former environments recorded by the rocks and the fossils. This new site proved to be very popular so during 2006 some extra trips were planned. The number of trips to our second main site has soared from 7 to 22 - a threefold increase that looks set to continue. In addition to the open trips that we lead for the public we also offer the opportunity for community groups to book a closed event for their members. Guided site visits are available (tide-times permitting for coastal trips) for specialist groups, including geological and palaeontological societies. We can sometimes setup extra events for smaller groups (for example birthday trips). Please contact us if you wish to arrange a trip (there is a charge for all guided excursions, and a minimum charge for very small groups).

During 2005 we led 41 public trips and 4 closed trips; so far during 2006 we have led 61 public trips and 17 closed trips. 13 The total number of participants has increased enormously in comparison with last year. Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 As autumn took hold the Isle of Wight was subjected to high winds and stormy seas School which scoured away the sands on the local beach, exposing the underlying clays and find rocks. School pupils, and members of the public, who went out on our field trips found themselves faced with numerous exposed dinosaur footcasts; and for a few lucky individuals there were bits of dinosaur bone and coprolite (fossil pooh!). Common finds from our local beach included limestones full of shells like the bivalve Filosina gregaria and freshwater viviparid snails; the oyster Aetostreon and the bivalve Trigonia. We even found some belemnites in a place where they rarely survive the pounding sea. And as usual the ubiquitous flint sponges were collected and compared with the cut and polished sponge fossils in our museum. Side view of the centrum.

A teacher from a visiting Milton Keynes school found a centrum from the spine of a small Iguanodon (a End view plant-eating dinosaur that died near of the Yaverland about 123 million years centrum. ago). (£1 coin for scale.) The preserved part of the bone he found is the centrum, the barrel- shaped core of a vertebra. The fragile neural spine and processes have broken off, leaving the tough centre. This centrum is from a late-dorsal vertebra.

On one of our public field trips two members of the public found some large crocodile teeth and a piece of scute (the 14 armour plate from the back of a crocodile).

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 How can we display some more local finds? By Steve Hutt

When you walk into your favourite museum do you always want to see the same old displays? Most regular visitors want change; it’s a problem all museums face and the good news is that Dinosaur Isle is attempting to do something positive about it. A large walk-in area known as the ‘nerd’s bedroom’ is to be redisplayed with new local fossils and particularly impressive ones from the museum’s collection. Construction of the bases for Some fossils will be on loan from the display case. local collectors, others from people strolling along the beach and lucky enough to have found an interesting fossil.

We are going to put faces to fossils, photographs of the happy finder, along with their story “I was just walking along at Sandown and saw this black lump sticking out of the beach …”. Should be a good case, come and see it. 15

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 If you are ever passing through the The Fox Project: village of Brighstone take the opportunity to visit the church of St Dinosaurs, the church, the Mary the Virgin and look for the set of school and Victorian village life three kneelers, two of which depict dinosaurs, the third, the Reverend on the Isle of Wight. William Fox. Fox was a curate of the By Dr. Martin Munt church in the 1860’s and 1870’s. Fox originated from Cumberland and came to the then tiny, isolated village of Brighstone in 1862. He lodged in Myrtle Cottage just a few minutes walk from the church on North Street.

Fox is remembered for his unique contribution to our understanding of British dinosaurs. He has three dinosaurs named after him, Polacanthus foxii, Hypsilophodon foxii, and Calamospondylus foxii, he is also credited with the discovery of the dinosaur Aristosuchus. The children at Brighstone Primary school found out about Fox, the dinosaurs he discovered and local geology. Victorian village life was explored using maps and photographs. Pupils discovered how the village had changed in the previous 120 years. A copy of Fox’s last will and testament contained information about him and his relationships in the village (he had left money to his land-lady). Field trips to the coast to see dinosaur footprint casts were used to reinforce the sense of common ownership of the geological heritage through simple messages such as if people take these away, others will not be able to see and stand where dinosaurs once walked. Dinosaur Isle received a small grant from After Fox’s death, his collection was Leader + and the Isle of Wight Economic acquired by the British Museum. His Partnership which brought together collecting marked the high point of museum, church, school, archivists, artists dinosaur hunting on the Island in Victorian and Isle of Wight AONB. The purpose of times. The Fox Project was primarily aimed the project was to raise awareness of Fox at raising awareness, and for the school and his contribution to palaeontology. In provided the basis for cross-curriculum parallel it provided a snap-shot of Victorian working and looking at the Victorians in a village life and the continuity of village life very different light. through ancestors and buildings. 16 If you would like to know more about the Fox Project please contact the museum.

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 August 2006 was the fifth anniversary of the opening of Then and now. Dinosaur Isle. It doesn’t seem 5 years on. that long ago but looking at some ‘then’ and ‘now’ photographs shows just how the building has been finished; and has settled down since 2001.

The building grounds have been greatly improved to provide access and off-road parking. New roads and a roundabout were created. An old store was demolished and replaced with a new building to house the mains transformers. Two new car-parks were created, and traffic islands were installed to make the crossings safer. Inside the building there have been even more changes. Starting with the first floor Education Room …

The Education Room has been filled with new displays and storage cabinets, and continues to be enhanced. The room is in use almost every day by schools and families. When not open to the public it also gets used for training sessions and meetings. The carpet has been hammered by tens of thousands of feet and seen almost every colour of paint thrown at it, 17 but it still survives…

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 And now for the evolution of the Dinosaur Isle shop … By Sue Wilkins

The title says it all really – with luck, you should be able to find all things Dinosaur – and a few extras too.

Since we opened I have made every effort to track down as many dinosaur lines as possible. Yes – there may be a few things I have missed but we have puzzles, models, lunch boxes, folders, pencils, games, playing cards, kites, painting sets, socks, T shirts, birthday cards, stickers, books……….. and many, many more. I have also tried to incorporate the geological side of the museum so we also stock rocks and minerals, stoneware and a wide range of jewellery. It should be noted though that we do not stock fossils. As a museum we exist to protect our heritage and not sell it. I now have several pages on the web site where quite a few items are listed. At the moment there is no ‘shopping basket’ facility (I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will happen in the near future), but goods may be reserved by email and purchased over the phone. The web pages are updated regularly. Having said that, 18 stock changes very quickly, so if you can’t see what you are looking for please email me and I will do my best to help. Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 The transformation of ‘Pink Iggy’

During 2001 bones from a large plant- 2001 eating dinosaur from the Isle of Wight were removed from their very small case in the old museum and bought to Dinosaur Isle. Here they were joined by other bones from the same animal. Replicas were made of many of the large bones, and more were made to fill the missing gaps. The whole dinosaur was then carefully 2006 mounted on the back wall of Dinosaur Isle. The real bones are protected behind Perspex panels. The skull and vertebrae are lightweight replicas. Dinosaur skulls are very fragile and it would be difficult to mount it this high up so that it could be seen without a great deal of structural bracing. In addition real fossils are very Why is it called ‘Pink Iggy’? heavy so the higher Oxygen-rich iron compounds in the soft sedimentary sandy- bones have to be mudstones (that the bones were originally found in) have coloured replicas for safety the fossils pink. The dinosaur is called Iguanodon, one of the first reasons. dinosaurs to be studied. ‘Iguanodon’ has been shortened to ‘Iggy’ 19 by people who collect, and study, their bones.

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Website changes… After the major changes to the website that occurred in 2005, when I took over the management of the content of the site, there have been a number of new changes and additions. Starting with the HOME page, the Contact Us section was rewritten to make it clearer, and email addresses were added. The ABOUT US page was completely rewritten, with more text and images. An aerial photograph of the building and a photograph of the original Dinosaur Isle team were added along with a summary of our Community Learning provision. Examples of some of the other services we provide and a set of gallery images (at the request of one of our visitors) were also added. As this newsletter was about to be issued a guide leaflet in French was added as a downloadable document. The How to get here sub-page was amended to make it easier to navigate. Contact details for Island Coach companies were added at the request of our school visitors. On the VISITING page the opening times were made clearer as was the pricing information. On the Catering sub-page reference to the Golf at the café was also added. The EVENTS page continues to be regularly updated. The Exhibitions sub-pages have now been revised and we are now thinking about the content for next years summer exhibition. From the COLLECTIONS & RESEARCH page a new sub-page called LGAP has been added. This will contain information on the new Isle of Wight Local Geodiversity Action Plan as it becomes available. Reference to a sample set of audited geological sites may also be added. Most recently a new sub-page Type and Figured Specimens for the museum’s most important objects has been added and will shortly be populated with details of the master (or type) specimens, and those that have appeared in important scientific journals and research papers. The EDUCATION page has been rewritten, with a better summary of what we do, with more detailed links to National Curriculum subjects; however there is still more work to do in this area. A Letters from our visitors sub-page has been added and contains a number of extracts from letters sent to us. The Earth’s Timeline sub-page has now become slightly out-of-date as recent research refines our knowledge, and needs to be amended; it is likely to change to a table format with new dates and important events. The Useful information page has recently been rebuilt to allow for easier navigation once more information is uploaded. A number of new word searches have been added and more are to follow. This page will become more of an online Education Resource for the museum. The SHOP pages have seen an enormous number of items added, along with a printable order form. Sue continues to review and amend these pages as the stock changes. The LINKS pages continue to grow, and have now been joined by a new page titled Schools, Tourism and Accommodation Partners. This page has been added to serve the requirements of those large groups who have been making enquiries about accommodation during their visit. 20 The website is Æ www.dinosaurisle.com

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Summer visitors by Peter Pusey

We are now just over 5 years old and Dinosaur Isle has had its most successful year since the opening year. Traditionally museums/attractions peak during the excitement created by the initial opening year then settle down to a plateau which inevitably follows; however as we constantly work to improve the museum it would seem that our visitors are responding.

April and May were the best we have ever had, then came a slow June and July what with the football world cup and long summer days of sunshine. It was with some nervousness that we waited for August to unfold. August is such an important month to us, it is a time when we welcome approximately 30% of our entire years visitors. August in 2005 was wall to wall sunshine except for two days when we welcomed in the region of fifteen hundred people per day.

This year the weather was more indifferent and we had a wonderful month with a constant stream of visitors and our year-on-year figures for August were up 22% reaching a fantastic figure of 22,030 people for the month. Obviously now things have quietened down so planning starts for next years events, however I am confident that we will finish the year ahead of last year with visitor numbers in excess of seventy thousand Dinosaur Isle on Opening Day in August 2001 people. 21

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Shop News Our shop staff continues to slowly evolve. Kerry and Kevin by Sue Wilkins continue their University studies, to be joined now by Alexa. Neil is coming to the end of his degree course, and we have been joined by June.

Alexa Haywood

Alexa took up the post of part time assistant in 2004. When a full time position became available she filled the Charlotte Brading gap and has been keeping an eye on stock levels since then. During this Charlotte took her GCSE’s time she undertook a short course with in the summer with the Open University. In September excellent results. She she started a course in Psychology at will continue working at Southampton University and will now be the weekends and during coming back to work for us during the the holidays whilst taking holidays. her ‘A’ levels. I must also thank Alexa for coming over to the Island on several weekends at short notice to help us out in times of staff shortages.

Kevin Ledger June Whitlock Whilst filling the June is the ‘new girl’, having joined us gaps and helping out in November. She has many years of at the drop of a hat retail experience. Many would have during the summer been put off by the words ‘Can you holidays, Kevin has start Monday? – Oh – and by the way – also enjoyed success I’m off on annual leave for 2 weeks with his band from Tuesday ……’, but June rose to ‘Bastilla’ with whom the challenge! We all extend a warm he played at this welcome and hope she will enjoy years Bestival (the working with us. local rock festival).

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Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 WORDSEARCH

Dinosaur Isle Culver Parade Sandown Isle of Wight PO36 8QA www.dinosaurisle.com

Excavate these words with our African Dinosaur WORDSEARCH. Find the names of dinosaurs, localities, bits of skeletons and the early hunters who found them. Words go up and down, left to right and diagonally.

There are 27 words to find. How many can you find?

P D E S E R T O W O K C S H Z I V A S N O T I B I A P L A B U N E F C D M R E B B A H A R I Y A R R B O N A U N C J A W R Q E R T O N A U X R A D L L E G G S M E V W S F R L K L A R W Y U U A B E E J T R A U G E G P R I C N R N R Z K S K N F R T U Z C H I A A N P P S T U O I A J R T O B L T E B Q B D R A S Y F O U M I M O R O C C O C O R A O F H I T T R O N D Y U N N M T U E S M E D A B E K S I U Z C E R R C U H P I E G Y P T J E M O R O U S O F R A A S U J A N E N S C H S B Q U L M O R I C H A R D T H E O

AFROVENATOR EGYPT SKULL AEGYPTIACUS ERNST STROMER (two words) SPINOSAURUS BAHARIYA FRAAS SUCHOMIMUS BOHETI BIN AMRANI JAW TENDAGURU BONE MOROCCO TIBIA CLAW OURANOSAURUS TOOTH DESERT RIB VERTEBRA EGGS RICHARD MARKGRAF (two words) WERNER JANENSCH (two words)

Word Search No. 3 African dinosaurs. Difficulty ● ● ● ○ ○

© Dinosaur Isle, Isle of Wight Council Produced by T.Price, 2006 This word-search was produced to accompany our 2006 exhibition. 23 For this and other word-searches why not visit our webpage www.dinosaurisle.com/info.aspx Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 News from Newport Roman Villa elsewhere in the Island Heritage Newport Roman Villa Cypress Road Service Newport PO30 1HE 1 Tel: (01983) 529720

Why not visit Newport Roman Villa? ‘The Island’s 1700 year old country pile.’ Well preserved remains of a 3rd Century farmhouse complete with such luxuries as under-floor heating, large bath suite and pleasantly decorated dining room. The Villa has a ‘hands on’ education room with a wide range of available activities. Why not make a mosaic, weave a blanket or put together the pieces of a For more information, or a leaflet, broken pot? Activity workshops are available for contact groups of 15 or more. There is also a roman garden and archaeological display charting the Roman Wendy Hodson -Museum occupation of the Isle of Wight. Administration Assistant The Villa is open for groups throughout the year. To (01983) 823847 find out more, or to make a booking, please phone (01983) 823847 or nd st Open to the public from 2 April to 31 October, Corina Westwood –Assistant Mondays to Saturdays (10am to 4:30pm). Open Sundays July and August only (12pm to 4pm). Curator – (01983) 823433 24 www.iow.gov.uk/council/departments/museums or email [email protected]

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 News from Museum of Island elsewhere in the History Island Heritage The Guildhall Service High Street Newport 2 Isle of Wight PO30 1TY

For more details about the Rowlandson exhibition please Discover the history of the Island from the time of the contact: dinosaurs to the present day. The Museum of Island History provides an excellent introduction to the history of the Isle of Wight. The museum uses touch screen computers, microscopes, quizzes and games to interpret JOHN FLETCHER the fascinating history of the Isle of Wight. Exhibitions Officer Museum Services The museum has a temporary exhibition gallery that is currently showing ’17 Rowlandson paintings’ (until April Cothey Bottom 2007). Our summer exhibition will explore the prehistoric Westridge Island - ‘Life before the Romans’. Ryde The museum is open all year and can offer worksheets and Isle of Wight lesson ideas for visiting school groups. To find out more, PO33 1QS or to make a booking, please phone (01983) 823847. Open Monday to Saturday (10am to 5pm) Sunday (11am to (01983) 814871 3:30pm). 25

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 Out-of-season Dinosaur Isle aims to provide an all year schools Educational experience. Field trips can accommodation be so much more exciting in the autumn and winter months… With most of our schools coming from the UK mainland, and further afield it can be difficult to find suitable accommodation for very large groups out of the summer season. To that end we have responded to requests from schools by listing (on our website) sources of information which will assist them in their stay. One of the existing local accommodation providers for school groups is now seeking to extend their opening season and link with our all-year programme.

YMCA Isle of Wight at Winchester House, Shanklin, is a popular accommodation choice for school groups. The main house sleeps 120 across 3 wings in singles, twins and bunkbed dorms. The Lodge sleeps 26 and the Apartment 4. There are 6 lounges and a chapel available for groups to use. We provide staff for your group who can accompany you on your visits and provide evening activities and entertainment. Winchester House is set in a fantastic location - access to sandy Hope Beach is via steps immediately outside.

Telephone: 01489 772215 for further information, or visit the website www.ymca-fg.org

Contact: Emma Corina-Litchfield Area Director South East Hampshire and Isle of Wight YMCA Fairthorne Group

YMCA Isle of Wight Tel: 01983 862441 Winchester House Fax: 01983 863513 Sandown Road Shanklin PO37 6HU Isle of Wight Part of YMCA Fairthorne Group, charity no. 1090981.

For further information on other accommodation providers who cater for schools please see the webpage www.dinosaurisle.com/tourism.aspx 26

Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 During June we were visited by a number of families taking advantage of the good weather. The Hughes family of Warwickshire kindly allowed us to reproduce some of the drawings they did in the museum. The dinosaurs were produced by Robert, Tom and Harry. I particularly like the dinosaur cracking open the smaller dinosaur (like a lobster) and ripping out the flesh!

If you have visited us, and have produced a drawing then we may be able to publish it in forthcoming issues. If you are a school teacher, other group leader, or an individual with artistic flair and you wish to submit a picture or photograph then please email it to us at [email protected] (at a high enough resolution to print). Entries may be sent by email but must include an address and phone number. We will put a School name, or individual name against the best entries, but we will not publish your address or phone number, or give the details to any 27 other person. Due to space constraints only a small number of pictures will be reproduced. All work must be original and not infringe on anyone's copyright. Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2 These are just three of the more colourful of the paintings left for us by our customers this summer.

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Dinosaur Diaries Issue 2