Scarborough man hopes to inspire more fossil collectors after finding giant dinosaur footprint
The huge creature left the marking around 166 million years ago
A Scarborough man who found a giant dinosaur footprint is hoping to inspire young children to go fossil hunting.
Rob Taylor discovered it back in November 2020 in Burniston Bay, which has now been declared as the largest ever found in Yorkshire.
It was re-discovered in April 2021 by local archaeologist, Marie Woods.
A study says the huge creature left the marking around 166 million years ago and was likely crouching down or resting.
Rob, who is a fossil collector, said: "I was very impressed when I found it but I didn't sort of realise at the time it was the biggest that had been found. I was absolutely buzzing. I thought 'wow.' I have seen other big footprints before but that one was really clear and so obvious what it was.
"I had gone down looking for dinosaur footprints, I quite often do, so I was walking across the rocks with the dog, saw that and thought 'wow.' I took photographs and I thought it's too big to take away or anything and thought at the time there's no way that's going to be moved. I posted the location so other people could go and see it.
"I've been collecting fossils since I was a little kid. There's dinosaurs footprints down Jackson's Bay where my dad showed me where they were 50 years ago, so I've always been interested in them. I found other little dinosaur footprints and I donated one to Gladstone Road School where I went to hopefully get other kids interested in the same sort of things.
"You never know what you're going to find. Some days you can find nothing and other days like that it can just totally blow your mind. It's about being able to recognise what the footprints are and there are lots of them."