West Wight People and Place: Palaeontologist Megan Jacobs
What gives an area its sense of place? The answer to this question might lie in the landscape or in the distinctive buildings of the place. Community interaction may also be important, as well as a sense of wellbeing and culture or the knowledge that people may hold for their immediate surroundings.
The strength and diversity of the local economy may also feature as well as any attachment that people hold for the area, be they visitors, recent newcomers or born and bred residents who can trace their family ties back generations.
In an attempt to answer this question, Pete Johnstone set himself a challenge and that was to find the sense of place of West Wight through photographing people living and working in the area and asking them about their connection to this largely rural area. This is Pete’s second West Wight People and Place challenge with this time having an emphasis on the Island’s Biosphere Reserve status acquired in 2019.
It’s all in the rocks.
Megan grew up in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. She always enjoyed collecting fossils and combing the Island’s beaches with her parents. Following her BSc and Masters in Palaeontology, her PhD will focus on looking into the rocks at Compton Bay, specifically the diversity of animals and what happened to their skeletons before and after burial.
Walking the coast, looking for fossils
On our beach walk, not long after dawn on the Island’s south coast, Megan explained she was enthusiastic about the Island receiving the UNESCO Biosphere status in 2019. “It’s great!” she said. “Part of the biosphere status is to educate and research the unique habitats we have on the Island. It involves conservation of protected species and protecting ecosystems, including the terrestrial, marine and coastal environments.”
“I feel that part of my job as a palaeontologist and geologist is to tie all these aspects together and educate the public on what they're seeing and why they're seeing it today. Almost every habitat on the island has its roots in deep geological time, and the stories of how these environments have changed to what we have today are just fascinating!”
West Wight geology ranges from around 130 million years to 35 million years old. The oldest rocks are from Compton to Brighstone and the youngest at Yarmouth. This means that the island has an incredibly diverse range of fossils, ranging from dinosaurs and ammonites to early mammals. They can be found on almost any Island beach just lying in the shingle.
An Island Geopark?
Around half of the Island is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, whilst a Geopark status could highlight the areas of outstanding geological beauty, such as the stretch from Compton Bay to Tennyson Down and the coloured sands of Alum Bay.
“It would be brilliant if the island could get the UNESCO Geopark status,” Megan says. “This would be a great way of highlighting how important the geology and fossils actually are. It would help with putting in safeguarding measures to protect areas from development and allow for education and pride in the geology we have here.
“Overall, I think the Island getting the Geopark allocation in the future will ultimately improve the awareness to the public about our geological heritage and why it needs protecting.”
Outreach and learning.
Megan feels the island currently lacks awareness and outreach to inform people of what to look for and why the rocks are so important. “Information boards at beach access points around the coast would be a great start! Lots of people who have grown up here and walk the coast, regularly have no idea what they could be walking over.”
Megan also runs Wight Coast Fossils, a successful Island geology and fossil tour company with her business partners Jack Wonfor and Theo Vickers. “In the last year or so, said Megan, I have noticed we're taking more and more Islanders on our walks along with tourists, which is brilliant! So many people have no idea what they've been walking past and missing for all those years!”
Megan is pictured alongside an Iguanodon foot cast, which is the sandstone infill of the footprint itself.
Further details on Wight Coast Fossils: https://wightcoastfossils.co.uk/
