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You'll all be sick of me asking for input on specimens at this rate! I'm pretty unsure about this, since I'm mainly a tooth collector. Does it look like an ankylosaurid scute to anyone?? Locality: Isle of Wight, UK. Wealden Formation. Size: 80mm X 55mm

Hi everyone, I need some help identifying something I found yesterday when I went through my newly acquired fossil matrix. Some information on the matrix, it came from the Hastings Bone beds, Weald Clay, Wealden of Bexhill, Wealden Supergroup, Bexhill, Sussex, UK (Cretaceous, Valanginian, 135 million years old) To me when I found it, it looked like skin, not like the crocodile scutes I am familiar with , but really more like skin. But since I am not really an expert on the matter is doesn't really matter what I think it might look like. I do know dinosaur fossils are common there and I do believe skin has been found on that location before (at least footprints with scale impressions) Does anyone have a clue on what it might be? Skin (reptillian, dinosaurian, pterosaur, shark, fish)? Skull plate of a fish? a croc scute? a mouthpart of a fish? Something entirely else? Thank you in advance, and I am very eager to hear what you guys think about it, no matter the outcome, I am very excited to find out what it is.

Hello Everyone, Unfortunately, this year I haven't really been able to go hunting much - only managing to make a couple of trips this year. Over the Christmas period I visited some of my family in Hastings, which is on the South Coast of England. Hastings beach is a little known fossiling area; which can produce some stunning finds in the right conditions. It is one of the few places within the UK where you can find dinosaur bones, but they are pretty rare - you need rough winter storms to stand any chance of finding them. I apologise in advance for the lack of location photos – it was so freezing; my hands couldn’t bear the cold! I’ve hunted three times previously at Hastings, every time I have returned empty handed, although I’ve heard stories of people finding spectacular dinosaur bones… I set off onto the beach on 24th December, the tides were ideal with low tide just having been. My family (for some unknown reason!) didn't fancy spending Christmas Eve on a very murky beach in the pouring rain, so it was just me and Mother Nature. The rain was looking eminent, and there was a gloomy loom over the entire beach. I made my way onto the beach and the rain was already setting in. The cliffs at Hastings are incredibly breath taking; they tower over the whole beach. There are three sections to the beach; nearest the cliff, in the centre, and at the water’s edge. In the past I’ve typically hunted in the middle section of the beach. I did this for a period of around 15 minutes, before I decided I would head slightly towards the cliffs (whilst maintaining a safe distance); to see whether there was anything there. I looked around the rocks, the beach is composed mainly of flint and huge boulders – it just didn’t look like the right territory to find bones, so I headed out towards the section of rocks that were at the tidal line. At this point the heavens opened, and a delicious shower of tepid rain fell upon me – this soon soaked through, and I began to lose any warmth that I had. I decided that this was a majestic moment, and I wasn’t going to be put off by a light shower (or, even a heavy shower!). I proceeded towards the sea and started picking up plausible looking rocks (although I didn’t have much idea of what I was looking for, I thought it would be tennis ball sized black rocks). The rocks that I was plucking from the sea’s grasp were underwater at the time that I unsettled them from their location. This meant that I couldn’t see the rocks until they were released from the sea’s grip – every time I picked up a rock there was a little flow of excitement that rushed around my body, only to be extinguished by the reality that I’d found yet another lump of flint… This carried on for a while; all the mean time my hands were slowing turning numb and the rain soaked into my already saturated clothing. I then spotted another lump, and I picked it up – I had picked up around 10 plausible pieces by this time – as it surfaced from under the water I could see that it was another lump of flint. I was just about to move on to a new patch, until I spotted a plausible lump. I went to pick this lump up… …as I picked this lump up and dragged it out from under the water a flow of excitement rushed over me, and this time, it didn’t fade! I had found a dinosaur bone. I looked at the candidate again, attempting to retain my balance, and I took a deep breath realising that I’d managed to find a genuine piece of British dinosaur. I was quite overwhelmed to say the least. Here is the piece that I had found: I then started heading back towards the car as my time was running out. Every five steps I took I had to retrieve the bone from my pocket to check that it was real (it didn’t disappoint)! As I was making my way back to the car I continued to search amongst the rocks on the foreshore in the tidal line. I was in total disbelief of finding my first piece of dinosaur from Hastings, upon which I stumbled across a siderite nodule which looked suspiciously as if it contained yet more bone! By this time the light was fading and I couldn’t really make out whether what I was seeing was bone or if it was just markings on the nodule – I grabbed the lump and made my way back to the car. I trudged back to car, soaked to the max, to meet my parents. They greeted me as if I was some bedraggled oddity which enjoyed spending time alone on a beach in the pouring rain – their rather bemused greeting didn’t dampen my spirit; I was too thrilled with my finds. I then washed the siderite nodule, which confirmed that my suspicions were indeed correct, and I had found another bone (or should that be bones!?). Here are the photos of my second find: All in all it had been a highly successful trip that I thoroughly enjoyed – in my opinion there was no greater way to spend Christmas Eve. If anybody could help with identifications it would be greatly appreciated. The fossils are from the Wealden Group; although beyond that I struggle to add any information. I know dinosaurs such as Iguanodon have been found there. I hope you enjoyed reading my report, and my ramble wasn’t too annoying! All the best, Joe