Tribe and Tide: navigating Island

Tribe and tide

NAVIGATING ISLAND FAMILY LIFE

By Emma Elobeid Pictures Timi Eross

Fossil hunting and rock pooling. Of all the family activities on the Isle of Wight bucket (and spade) list, these two come up trumps. For good reason – our Island is as teeming with the thunderous footprints of long ago as it is with the pitter patter of juvenile crabs and microscopic creatures. And here, at Compton Bay, an intertidal zone opens up and the two dramatically collide.

This most recent cross-Island trek to the wilds of West Wight’s most prehistoricpacked beach came about because my eldest is ‘doing’ dinosaurs at school this term. Although in truth he’s never not ‘done’ dinosaurs, this latest project has reignited his passion. And so it’s with great excitement that we descend the wooden steps to a world that is both primordial and present at the same time.

A trip to Compton allows you to visualise both sides of the extinction divide: it’s a place where you can stand on the feet of giants and tiptoe through some of their closest living descendants in the shallows of time and tide. Ok, so prehistoric crustaceans may have been rather more fearsome than the toe-ticklers common underfoot today, but there’s something rather dizzying and deep to the thought. Amid the atmospheric backdrop of Compton’s burnt orange cliffs and the sweet scent of summer rain, we can happily while hours exploring the miniature cliffs, caves and chasms

Compton’s striking cliffs provide a fitting backdrop for intrepid explorers

of these ancient pools. As we do, observations bubble to the surface: submerged sea anemones remind us of a spiky Spinosaurus; tiny silvery sand eels become shrunken cretaceous swordfish; whelks and periwinkles conjure imaginings of giant prehistoric marine molluscs. Next, having sufficiently swirled and swished our way through the shallows, we head south towards Brook Bay – an area boasting one of the richest sources of dinosaur footprints and fossils in Europe. More than 120 million years ago, the Isle of Wight supported a rich ecosystem of prehistoric life, from giant herbivorous sauropods to swooping pterosaurs capable of plucking rather more than the flake from your ice cream cone. Once again, scientific realism is somehow far less important than the thrill of discovery. To a three-year-old, it doesn’t much matter whether the markings on

“Found one!” Dinosaur footprints are an ageless wonder

his treasured piece of terracotta are truly Jurassic or more likely from the Anthropocene (i.e. a bit of bygone brick). It’s simply his special stone. Walk far enough, and you’ll soon stumble (literally, if you’re not careful) upon the hardened castings of these magnificent beasts as they walked what was then a series of muddy lagoons rather than a holidaymaker’s paradise. Though not always immediately recognisable, once you know the telltale sign of their tracks (look for the distinctive three-pronged therapod toes) you’ll see them everywhere. The boys bring their walkie talkies, and communicate their finds excitedly to one another – “I’ve found one! Over!” – across the sands.

Photos are taken, memories are made and, as a fresh wave of thunder threatens to wash our footprints clean, we head home and thank our lucky stars we live on Dinosaur Isle.