Valtos and Dun Dearg expose sandstone cliffs and a boulder-strewn shore with dinosaur footprints, shell-rich beds and large rounded concretions. The Bathonian, Middle Jurassic rocks preserve traces of life around ancient lagoons, making this a rewarding locality for careful observation and photography.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Plant fragments, small shells and sedimentary structures are more readily recognised than rare bones; dinosaur footprints reward careful observation and photography.
CHILDREN: ♦ – Unsuitable for young children because of large unstable blocks, steep ground and exposed cliffs.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦ – The historical approach from the A855 is relatively short, but the descent and boulder-covered shore require care and sure footing.
TYPE: Cliffs and foreshore, with Middle Jurassic sandstone, mudstone, limestone and fallen blocks.
DIRECTIONS
♦ From Portree, follow the A855 north towards Staffin, passing through Culnacnoc (Culnaknock).
♦ The original approach uses the memorial stone and small roadside lay-by on the left before the houses and flat-topped cliffs at Valtos. The shore-entry gate was described as about 100m beyond this stopping point. These are historic route details: check current signs and the condition of the access on arrival.
♦ Park only where currently permitted and safe, without obstructing gates, homes, passing places or traffic. The old report of free parking is not a guarantee of present availability.
♦ Use gates or suitable access points and follow the existing descent towards the shore. The approach is relatively short, but the shoreline and Dun Dearg rockfall involve difficult, uneven ground and large tilted blocks. Turn back if the route is unsafe; this is not an easy-access beach.
♦ Published locality/approach reference: 57.59391°N, 6.15972°W. This inland reference is not a surveyed parking bay or a dinosaur-footprint location.
FOSSIL HUNTING
Look for fossils already visible on safe surfaces. Shelly slabs, sandstone bedding planes and naturally exposed faces offer more to examine than an indiscriminate search for loose specimens. Large blocks may be unstable even when they appear settled. Do not climb beneath overhangs, lever blocks apart or turn heavy slabs to search their undersides.
Bivalves and shell beds. The most characteristic shell fossil is Neomiodon. Whole valves and broken shell fragments occur in calcareous sandstone, shale and limestone, sometimes in great abundance. A shell-rich surface can be easier to recognise than an isolated shell: look for repeated small curved outlines and concentrations of pale shell material. Such concentrations alone do not demonstrate a single mass-mortality event.
Dinosaur footprints. Look for a coherent three-toed outline, sometimes with a longer middle toe and pointed claw marks. Some footprints survive as depressions, while natural casts stand above the surrounding rock. Many are incomplete, weathered or partly obscured by cracks and burrows. A three-pronged shape is a starting point for identification, not proof of a footprint; photograph the entire surface as well as the suspected trace, with a scale placed alongside it without touching the fossil.
Trace fossils and sedimentary structures. Burrows such as Planolites record animals living within the sediment. Ripple marks record water movement, while polygonal desiccation cracks show that wet sediment dried out. These structures can occur on the same slabs as footprints. Cracks may continue into or beyond a toe impression and can misleadingly lengthen its apparent outline; the surrounding surface matters as much as the feature itself.
Plant material and rare vertebrate remains. Carbonaceous plant fragments and wood also occur, but an individual dark fragment should not be identified from colour alone. Fossil bone and fish remains are much rarer and require specialist assessment. The Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock historical section records shark remains in a shell-bearing limestone. Dinosaur body fossils include an important sauropod limb bone from near Dun Dearg; older claims that it certainly belonged to Cetiosaurus, or that a local theropod tail bone proves Coelophysis, overstate the evidence.
Keep the different Skye sites separate. The widespread dinosaur discoveries of Skye come from several formations and localities. The sauropod print described from Port Earlish and the famous tracksites at Brothers’ Point, An Corran and Duntulm are not interchangeable with the Dun Dearg rockfall. At this locality, concentrate on recognising and recording what is actually visible rather than expecting a particular named dinosaur or an accessible complete trackway.
Record, leave and report. Leave footprints, bones, teeth, scales and any possible vertebrate trace in place. Photograph the feature and its setting, record its position privately, and follow the reporting and permission guidance in Access rights. Do not clean, mould, hammer or remove a suspected vertebrate fossil; an apparently small loose fragment can still be scientifically important.
Staffin Dinosaur Museum at Ellishadder provides a useful introduction to Skye’s fossil heritage. Check current opening arrangements through the Staffin community ecomuseum’s local-business listing before making a special journey.
A chronological record of geological research, fossil discoveries and scientific reassessment at Valtos and Dun Dearg.
1966 – Detailed coastal sections published
Geological Survey work documented the Valtos cliff succession bed by bed and provided a separate composite section between Dun Dearg and Kilt Rock. The logs recorded shell-rich limestone, concretionary sandstone, shale, ripple marks, drying cracks and other fossil-bearing horizons, establishing a detailed baseline for later research.
1980 – Valtos Sandstone Formation formalised
The modern lithostratigraphical scheme established the Valtos Sandstone Formation within the Great Estuarine Group, using the Valtos–Mealt Falls coast as its type section. The name replaced the older “Concretionary Sandstones” terminology and gave subsequent fossil finds a clearer stratigraphical framework.
1992 – Lagoonal delta succession analysed
Detailed sedimentological work interpreted the Valtos succession in terms of advancing delta lobes and lagoon shorelines. It distinguished sandstone-rich lower and upper divisions from the intervening limestone–shale interval, helping explain why fossils and sedimentary structures vary from bed to bed.
1995 – Valtos sauropod limb bone described
A large limb bone from near Valtos and Dun Dearg was formally described as the first unequivocal Middle Jurassic dinosaur bone from Scotland. Initially discussed as a possible cetiosaurid femur, it demonstrated the presence of large herbivorous dinosaurs; later reassessment showed that its exact identity was less secure than that early interpretation suggested.
2002 – Further Dun Dearg footprints found
Dugald Ross, Neil Clark and Paul Booth discovered additional dinosaur footprints at Dun Dearg. These specimens broadened the local record beyond the earlier discoveries elsewhere along the Valtos Sandstone coast and subsequently contributed to comparative studies of Middle Jurassic track shapes.
2004 – Sauropod limb bone reassessed
Re-examination of the Valtos limb bone proposed that it was a humerus rather than the originally suggested femur and questioned its assignment to a cetiosaurid. The specimen remains important evidence of a sauropod, but does not justify naming a particular dinosaur species.
2008 – Dun Dearg tracks compared with Wyoming material
A comparative study included Dun Dearg footprints alongside other Skye and Wyoming track samples. Some smaller tracks had similar measured proportions, while the study also highlighted the difficulty of separating dinosaur types using footprint shape alone.
2015 – Small theropod remains reinterpreted
Modern analysis of a theropod tooth and tail vertebra from the northeastern Skye Valtos Sandstone record retained a cautious identification as indeterminate theropods. The tail bone, historically compared with Coelophysis and recorded from Dun Dearg, was considered more likely to belong to a small basal coelurosaur. It should not be presented as a confirmed occurrence of Coelophysis.
2019–2020 – Additional fossil protection introduced
The Skye Nature Conservation Order took effect on 1 August 2019 and was confirmed in January 2020. It added protection for vertebrate body and trace fossils along this coast, including loose material and cliff-fall blocks, strengthening safeguards for the scientific record beyond the separate SSSI sections.
2023 – Concretion growth history revised
Isotope research on Valtos concretions, including a sample from Dun Dearg, linked their cementation to heated Palaeocene groundwater and basinal fluids. The study showed why the age of the sandstone and fossils must be distinguished from the much later formation of its prominent calcite-cemented doggers.
2025 – Dun Dearg track horizons documented in detail
A new study of Skye footprint collections identified at least two track-bearing, desiccated horizons within bed 18 at Dun Dearg and placed local specimens within a wider, predominantly theropod footprint assemblage. It distinguished the Dun Dearg evidence from other Valtos-coast sublocalities and from the separate Kilmaluag Formation tracks at Lùb Score.
GEOLOGY
The sedimentary cliffs at Valtos and Dun Dearg expose the Valtos Sandstone Formation, part of the Great Estuarine Group. These are Bathonian, Middle Jurassic rocks. Their changing beds record sand entering shallow, variably brackish lagoons, with intervals of quieter mud accumulation, shell concentration and temporary exposure of the lagoon margins.
Sandstone is interbedded with shale, siltier sediment and shelly limestone. Cross-bedding records sediment movement, while ripples, burrows and desiccation cracks preserve conditions on individual ancient surfaces. The rounded protruding doggers are calcite-cemented sandstone concretions. They formed after deposition; recent research links cementation of studied Valtos and Dun Dearg concretions to much later Palaeocene fluids.
The familiar cliff-and-boulder landscape also includes younger dolerite intrusions. Their contacts cut across parts of the sedimentary succession, and rockfall has displaced many fossil-bearing blocks. The geological overview below is therefore schematic. The expanded section preserves the published bed descriptions and keeps the Valtos cliff log, northern coastal log and modern footprint-bed numbering distinct.
Explore the Valtos and Dun Dearg succession, its historical bed logs and the horizons recognised in modern research.
GREAT ESTUARINE GROUP
The fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks at Valtos and Dun Dearg belong to the Middle Jurassic Great Estuarine Group. The principal exposure is the Valtos Sandstone Formation; the much younger igneous sills and fallen blocks are not additional Jurassic sedimentary formations.
Valtos Sandstone Formation
The formation is Bathonian in age. Its type section extends along the cliffs from Valtos towards Mealt Falls. BGS records about 95 m exposed in this type section, compared with an estimated maximum formation thickness of 120 m in Trotternish. These figures do not describe the height of a single cliff or an uninterrupted accessible route. The formal lower boundary lies at the incoming of Neomiodon-dominated beds above the Lealt Shale Formation; the upper boundary is marked by the first Praeexogyra hebridica in the Duntulm Formation, exposed farther north rather than forming the top of every local cliff.
Three informal divisions
The coastal succession contains a lower sandstone-dominated division (about 48 m), a middle limestone–shale division (about 27 m), and an upper sandstone-dominated division. These are informal subdivisions, not formally named members. Sand-rich intervals record advancing lagoonal deltas; intervening shell-rich and muddy intervals reflect changes in sediment supply and lagoon conditions. The GCR account records the basal part of the lower division and the uppermost 20–30 m of the upper division as outside its designated exposure; this scope differs from the BGS description of the broader type section. Roughly 15 m of upper-division strata are exposed farther north below Carraig Mhòr and Loch Mealt; this is regional coastal context, not a promised exposure at the guide access point.
Historical measured section: Valtos cliff
The following bed descriptions retain the separate numbering and imperial measurements of the Geological Survey’s 1966 Valtos cliff log, from oldest to youngest. One foot is 0.3048 m and one inch is 0.0254 m. These beds document a measured exposure, not a checklist of safely accessible collecting levels. They must not be equated by number with the later Harris–Hudson scheme used in modern footprint studies. The historical name “Concretionary Sandstones” refers to what is now called the Valtos Sandstone Formation.
Historical cycle 2, upper part
Valtos cliff bed 1 (3 ft)
Cemented, calcareous sandstone.
Valtos cliff bed 2 (18 ft)
Soft yellow sandstone containing calcareous concretions (doggers).
Valtos cliff bed 3 (1–3 ft)
Calcareous grit.
Historical cycle 3
Valtos cliff bed 4 (2 ft)
Grey-green sandy shale.
Valtos cliff bed 5 (1 ft)
Shale containing Neomiodon.
Valtos cliff bed 6 (6 in)
Calcareous sandstone.
Valtos cliff bed 7 (6 in)
Sandy shale.
Valtos cliff bed 8 (2 ft 6 in)
Limestone containing Neomiodon.
Valtos cliff bed 9 (4 ft 6 in)
Sandy shale with Neomiodon.
Valtos cliff bed 10 (2 ft 8 in–4 ft)
Neomiodon-bearing limestone; the thickness varies laterally.
Valtos cliff bed 11 (5 ft)
Soft grey shale containing Neomiodon.
Valtos cliff bed 12 (7 ft)
Soft yellow sandstone with doggers.
Valtos cliff bed 13 (1 ft–2 ft 6 in)
Irregular sandy limestone containing Neomiodon.
Valtos cliff bed 14 (6 ft)
Thin sandstone beds alternating with shale.
Valtos cliff bed 15 (1 ft 6 in)
Hard sandstone.
Valtos cliff bed 16 (2 ft)
Thin calcareous sandstone beds.
Valtos cliff bed 17 (1 ft)
Soft yellow sandstone with doggers.
Valtos cliff bed 18 (1 ft 6 in)
Thin calcareous sandstone beds.
Valtos cliff bed 19 (2 ft)
Thin shaly sandstone beds.
Valtos cliff bed 20 (1 ft 6 in)
Sandstone.
Valtos cliff bed 21 (4 ft)
Thin sandstone beds alternating with shale.
Valtos cliff bed 22 (6 ft)
Soft yellow sandstone with doggers.
Valtos cliff bed 23 (3 ft)
Hard calcareous sandstone.
Historical cycle 4
Valtos cliff bed 24 (3 in)
Shale containing Neomiodon.
Valtos cliff bed 25 (6 in)
Neomiodon-bearing limestone.
Valtos cliff bed 26 (7 ft)
Shale containing Neomiodon.
Valtos cliff bed 27 (2 ft)
Neomiodon-bearing limestone.
Valtos cliff bed 28 (7 ft)
Shale with Neomiodon.
Valtos cliff bed 29 (3 ft)
Thin shaly sandstones alternating with sandy shales.
Valtos cliff bed 30 (1 ft)
Calcareous sandstone.
Valtos cliff bed 31 (2 ft 6 in)
Soft yellow sandstone with doggers.
Valtos cliff bed 32 (3 in)
Thin shaly sandstone.
Valtos cliff bed 33 (6 ft)
Hard, massive sandstone.
Valtos cliff bed 34 (2 ft)
Flaggy sandstone.
Valtos cliff bed 35 (2 ft)
Hard, massive sandstone.
Valtos cliff bed 36 (2 ft)
Flaggy sandstone beneath an olivine-dolerite sill.
Separate historical coastal section: Dun Dearg towards Kilt Rock
The Survey also assembled a section from several accessible points between Dun Dearg and Kilt Rock. It overlaps the Valtos cliff succession but uses its own bed numbers and records additional fossil and sedimentary details. It is reproduced separately below, oldest first, rather than merged into a falsely continuous single log. The northern part supplies context for the coast beyond the immediate rockfall; its presence in this account does not imply that the whole stretch can be traversed safely.
Historical cycle 2, upper part
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 1 (18 ft)
Soft sandstone containing doggers.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 2 (1–3 ft)
Calcareous grit.
Historical cycle 3
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 3 (2 ft)
Grey-green sandy shale with coprolites.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 4 (1 ft)
Grey shale containing Neomiodon.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 5 (6 in)
Calcareous sandstone with ripple marks and desiccation cracks.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 6 (6 in)
Sandy shale rich in structures described historically as worm casts.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 7 (2 ft 6 in)
Grey limestone containing Neomiodon.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 8 (4 ft 6 in)
Sandy shale containing Neomiodon.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 9 (2 ft 8 in–4 ft)
Hard grey limestone with Neomiodon and shark remains recorded historically as Hybodus.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 10 (5 ft)
Soft grey shale with Neomiodon.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 11 (7 ft)
Soft sandstone with large doggers.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 12 (1 ft–2 ft 6 in)
Hard, markedly irregular sandy limestone.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 13 (6 ft)
Thin sandstone beds alternating with shale.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 14 (1 ft 6 in)
Hard calcareous sandstone.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 15 (4 ft)
Hard calcareous sandstone divided into platy concretionary layers about 3 in thick, separated by shale partings; a 1 ft interval of soft sandstone with small doggers lies in the middle of the bed.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 16 (not securely readable in the digitised log)
Thin shaly sandstone beds. No numerical thickness is supplied here because the digitised source has an incomplete entry.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 17 (1 ft 6 in)
Sandstone.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 18 (4 ft)
Thin sandstone beds alternating with shale.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 19 (6 ft)
Soft sandstone with doggers.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 20 (3 ft)
Hard calcareous sandstone containing Neomiodon.
Historical cycle 4
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 21 (3 in)
Dark shale containing Neomiodon.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 22 (6 in)
Grey limestone with Neomiodon.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 23 (7 ft)
Dark shale with Neomiodon.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 24 (2 ft)
Grey limestone with Neomiodon.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 25 (7 ft)
Dark shale containing Neomiodon.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 26 (3 ft)
Thin sandy and shaly beds.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 27 (1 ft)
Hard calcareous sandstone.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 28 (2 ft 6 in)
Soft yellow sandstone with doggers.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 29 (3 in)
Thin shaly sandstone beds.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 30 (6 ft)
Hard, massive sandstone.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 31 (2 ft)
Thin flaggy sandstone beds.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 32 (2 ft)
Hard, massive sandstone.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 33 (2 ft)
Thin flaggy sandstone beds.
Historical cycle 5, lower part
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 34 (2–3 ft)
Grey shale.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 35 (8 ft)
Hard sandy limestone.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 36 (5 ft)
Grey shale.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 37 (4 ft)
Hard sandy limestone.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 38 (8 ft)
Hard sandy limestone.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 39 (5 ft)
Grey sandy shale.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 40 (2 ft)
Sandy shale with thin sandy limestone beds.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 41 (15 ft)
Soft sandstone with doggers.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 42 (15 ft)
Strongly calcareous sandstone, with thin calcareous shales at its base.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 43 (1 ft)
Coarse calcareous pebbly grit.
Dun Dearg–Kilt Rock bed 44 (1–3 ft)
Calcareous sandstone or sandy limestone below the dolerite sill.
Modern footprint horizons: a different numbering scheme
The following bed numbers follow Harris and Hudson, as used in the 2025 footprint study. They are not equivalent to the identically numbered beds in either historical log above. Loose blocks can retain a recognisable lithology while losing their exact position in the cliff; where correlation remains uncertain, no more precise horizon is claimed.
Bed 5: lower-unit track-bearing horizons
Within the wider lower-unit coastal section, the lower track surfaces occur in well-sorted fine sandstone with ripples or desiccation cracks; the latter preserve especially distinct raised track casts. Higher in bed 5, moderately sorted, medium-grained sandy limestone contains disarticulated Neomiodon, calcite veins and broader, round-edged casts; shale overlies it. These horizons represent exposed lagoon-margin sand followed by increasing brackish-water influence. Their wider coastal distribution should not be treated as a single Dun Dearg exposure.
Bed 16: loose block north of Dun Dearg
A partial raised footprint was correlated with fine, grey, laminated sandstone heavily burrowed by Planolites and Monocraterion. It records a biologically active, damp lagoon-margin substrate; the bed assignment is a published correlation of a fallen block.
Bed 18: Dun Dearg track-bearing sandstone, about 0.34 m
This poorly to moderately sorted fine sandstone contains Neomiodon and at least two desiccated horizons with sharply defined raised footprints. The lower cracked surface includes shale intercalations and Planolites; a rippled interval without observed tracks separates it from a strongly burrowed horizon. The combination records flood-fed sand sheets and repeated wetting and exposure along a lagoon shore.
Bed 25: Carraig Mhòr, northern coastal context
Two large fallen blocks farther north preserve tracks in weakly laminated, medium- to coarse-grained sandy limestone containing broken Neomiodon valves. The surfaces are mostly smooth, with occasional faint ripples. Correlation with bed 25 relates them to reduced sand supply and greater carbonate accumulation. These are not finds from the immediate Dun Dearg rockfall.
Middle and upper divisions
No tracks were reported from the middle limestone–shale division in the 2025 study. Tracks in fallen upper-division sandstone blocks cannot all be assigned to individual beds: unsafe cliff access prevented precise correlation. These upper-division track surfaces include desiccation cracks and occasional disarticulated Neomiodon. Do not assume that every footprint block comes from bed 18.
Concretion horizons and later cementation
The rounded doggers are sandstone cemented by calcite, not dinosaur eggs. Modern work examined a large Valtos concretion from bed 3 and a Dun Dearg concretion from bed 38 in the Harris–Hudson numbering. The latter lies about 40 m stratigraphically above the main studied Valtos sample. Isotope evidence published in 2023 supports Palaeocene cementation associated with heated groundwater and basinal fluids, long after the Jurassic sand was deposited. A measured cement temperature of 64 ± 9°C from the Dun Dearg sample concerns concretion formation, not the temperature of the Jurassic lagoon.
Intrusions, discontinuities and fallen material
Dolerite sills interrupt and locally cut across the sedimentary succession. Historical Survey mapping records significant lateral changes in the intrusion levels northwards, so the top of a sandstone exposure against a sill is not automatically a formation boundary. Rockfall blocks are displaced pieces of this succession; their current angle and order do not reconstruct the original bedding.
References
BGS Lexicon: Valtos Sandstone Formation.
Cox, B.M. (2002). Valtos, Isle of Skye. In British Middle Jurassic Stratigraphy, GCR 26, section C.
SAFETY
Plan the visit around low tide, check the tide times and weather, and keep a clear return route. Waves and rising water can reach lower sections of shore even though much of the Dun Dearg rockfall lies above normal high water.
Large, uneven and tilted blocks make falls and trapped feet a serious hazard. Wet rock and seaweed are slippery; do not climb unstable blocks or go beneath unstable cliffs. A hard hat does not make a rockfall area safe. Avoid the shore in rough seas, strong winds or poor visibility.
This rough shore is unsuitable for young children and visitors with limited mobility. Wear sturdy footwear, carry waterproofs, water and a means of calling for help, and tell someone your route and return time. Do not rely on mobile reception. In a coastal emergency call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard. See the RNLI’s coastal walking advice.
EQUIPMENT
Sturdy walking boots with good grip, waterproofs and a small rucksack are more useful here than heavy collecting tools. Take a camera, hand lens and a small scale for photographs, together with food, drinking water and a charged phone. Download a map and tide information before arriving, because mobile reception may be unreliable.
Plan to observe and photograph the fossils. Do not bring hammers or chisels for breaking the rock: vertebrate fossils, including fish remains and dinosaur footprints, are protected, and the detailed restrictions are explained under Access Rights. A hard hat does not make standing beneath unstable cliffs safe.
CLEANING AND TREATING
Leave the shore fossils and their enclosing rock undisturbed. Do not chip around a footprint, brush a fragile surface aggressively, or apply chalk, paint, chemicals or coatings to make a fossil stand out. Photograph from several angles, using natural side-light and a scale placed beside the fossil without touching or marking it.
If you already hold a lawfully collected specimen, retain its locality and collection records and seek specialist advice before preparation. Soft shell-rich layers can crumble, while hard sandstone may fracture through a fossil rather than around it. Suspected bone, teeth or important tracks should be reported for expert assessment; do not attempt to extract or stabilise them yourself.
IDENTIFY YOUR FINDS
Need help identifying a fossil? Share clear photos, where you found it and its size with the community.
FURTHER READING
Neil Clark, Dinosaurs in Scotland (Deposits). A readable account of Skye’s discoveries and their conservation; some early identifications have since been revised.
Jon Trevelyan, Geology museums of Britain: Staffin (Dinosaur) Museum, Isle of Skye (Deposits). Background to the museum and its wider Skye fossil collection.
Mark Wilkinson, Dinosaurs footprints on the Isle of Skye (Deposits). Wider island context centred on Duntulm, rather than a guide to Dun Dearg.
BGS Lexicon: Valtos Sandstone Formation. Formal age, definition, boundaries and type-section information.
Geological Conservation Review: Valtos. Section C covers the Valtos–Mealt Falls type-section coast; the other sections describe separate sites.
Blakesley and colleagues (2025). Detailed modern research on Valtos-coast and Lùb Score dinosaur footprints.
ACCESS RIGHTS
The Valtos–Dun Dearg coast includes parts of Valtos Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The Skye Nature Conservation Order 2019 additionally protects the intervening coastline between its separate SSSI sections. The inland approach reference is not a boundary marker: consult the official maps for the shore you intend to visit.
Within the NCO area, do not damage, excavate or remove vertebrate body or trace fossils, including dinosaur footprints, bones, teeth and fish remains, whether in bedrock, fallen blocks or loose beach material. Do not fill or coat tracks with plaster, paint or other setting material. Research recovery is restricted to the Order’s defined institutional exception and requires written landowner consent; ordinary collecting permission alone does not override it.
Visit to observe, photograph and record. Photograph a suspected vertebrate find and its surroundings, note its position and report it using NatureScot’s current recording and reporting guidance. Leave it in place rather than taking it home.
Responsible walking access does not confer a right to remove fossils. Any proposed sampling requires landowner/occupier and, where applicable, mineral-rights permission, plus the necessary NatureScot consent within the SSSI. Follow the Scottish Fossil Code and check NatureScot’s sampling guidance. No collecting permission is supplied by this guide; if the position is unclear, do not collect.
It is important to follow our Code of Conduct when collecting fossils or visiting any site. Please also read our Terms and Conditions.
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