At https:/www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24nzeqq112o … some 200 dinosaur footprints made 166 million years ago, have been found criss crossing the limestone floor of a quarry in Oxfordshire. The longest trackway of foot falls is 150 mm in length – but they probably extend further. They will emerge when the quarry workings are resumed. Gary Johnson, a worker at the Dewars Farm quarry spotted the tracks as he was a digger driver removing material above the limestone floor. The same quarry, some time ago, when it was a much smaller affair, also produced dinosaur footprints. However, it is unlikely the general public will be allowed to view them as quarries have strict rules regarding health and safety and other government guidelines. The nanny state if you like. It isn’t that long ago that fossil hunters could access quarries in out of work hours, scouring the waste left in heaps around the perimeters. Nowadays, fossil hunters are discouraged and excluded from quarries unless they are part of a recognised geological group. Then it is mainly on a Sunday – and no doubt a queue is developing now the existence of the footprints has been aired in a public space.
The BBC probably got their information from geological sources such as https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-01-02-major-new-footprint-discoveries-britain-s-dinosaur-highway/ … one interesting aspect is that two kinds of dinosaur – one a lumbering vegetarian and the other a meat eating predator, were interacting in some way. The footprints crossed over each other and diverged. One wasn’t chasing the other – unless he was going to do a Merv the Swerve. They were both on the hoof. What were they fleeing from? The preservation of the tracks, we are told, was so good the geology team could see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur feet squelched in and out. There were also traces of other fossils such as burrows, shells, and plant remains. It was also described as a watery landscape, resembling a lagoon. Half marine and half land – a view posed no doubt from the fossils they have dug up.
On January 8th, a BBC2 show at 8.00 pm, had Alice Roberts visit the site and talk with the excavation team. It does seem they were running – or at least the carnivore broke into a run. It crossed the path of the lumbering bigger animal, which surprisingly did not touch the surface with his long and large tail. Does this imply that he too was in a hurry? Presumably the show is available on BBC iplayer, ‘Dig for Britain.’