An Corran Beach Photo

Dinosaur footprint on Staffin beach

On the beach at An Corran are some remarkable footprints. They were left by a family of dinosaurs that walked across the sand here some 165 million years ago. To put that in context, the gabbro rocks of the Cuillin were formed about 60 million years ago, and they were carved by the glaciers of the last ice age on Skye just 11,000 years ago. These are very, very old footprints. The dinosaurs that passed here were Ornithopods, herbivorous creatures who walked on two legs. There is a fair cluster of footprints on a bed of sandstone on the beach. The prints are covered by the sea at high tide, and are often covered by sand in the summer. The best time to see them is after a winter storm, when the sea has swept the sand away. The coin in the picture is a 10p piece, placed to give an idea of scale.

© John Allan and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence