Huge fossilised ‘sea dragon’ found in Rutland reservoir

By Jonah Fisher.
The environment correspondent.

Matthew Power photo.

Joe Davis, who works at the Rutland Nature Reserve, said that he thought he had found a dinosaur.

He spotted something poking out of the mud during his landscaping work at the reserve.

It was not a dinosaur. The remains were of a sea predator called an Ichthyosaur.

It was the largest of its type ever found in the UK.

Mr Davis said that he looked down at what looked like stones or ridges in the mud. "Then we saw something that looked like a tooth."

"We don't have a dinosaur department at the council so we're going to have to get someone to call you back," the council said to Mr Davis. A team of paleontologists were brought in for a closer look.

The image is from Anglian Water.

They concluded that it was a warm-blooded, air-breathing sea predator that could grow up to 25 metres long. They lived between 250 million and 90 million years ago.

The excavation effort was led by Dr Dean Lomax. He said the discovery was one of the greatest finds in British palaeontological history.

We usually think of marine reptile discoveries along the coast of England, such as the discovery of the irrthyosaurs on the Yorkshire coast, or the discovery of other marine reptile discoveries along the coast of England, such as the irrthyosaurs on the Dorset coast. At an inland location, it's very unusual.

200 million years ago, higher sea levels meant that a shallow ocean covered the area.

A team of palaeontologists came in to dig up the remains when the water levels were lowered. The huge skull was removed with special attention paid to it.

A large block of clay was carefully dug out and covered in plaster before being placed on wooden splints.

The block was raised out of the mud and will be examined further.

"It's not often you are responsible for lifting a very important but fragile fossil that weighs a lot," said the Visiting Research Fellow at Reading University. I love a challenge, but it is a responsibility.

The water company is looking for funding to keep the dinosaur in the area so it can be enjoyed by the public.

A lot of people thought I was pulling their leg when I told them I had found a large marine reptile. A lot of people won't believe it until the show airs.

On Tuesday, January 11th at 8pm, that programme is on the television. "Digging for Britain" will be available on the iPlayer.