Wight Coast Fossils was established in 2019 by islanders Jack Wonfor, Theo Vickers and Megan Jacobs. Our aim was to establish a professional and modern guided fossil walk business on the island, allowing people of all ages to enjoy and explore the amazing ancient story of our island’s internationally unique geological heritage! We’ve grown significantly, expanding our team and working with an array of local partners to deliver high-class guided fossil hunting walks to over 5,000 islanders and visitors each year!
Meet the team!
Megan Jacobs – BSc. hons | MRes
Megan is a PhD student and vertebrate palaeontologist at the University of Portsmouth, researching the preservation of the Isle of Wight’s dinosaurs! A born islander, Megan has a huge fossil collection from years of collecting and excavating dinosaurs on the island’s south coast. In recent years, Megan has undertaken fieldwork from Morocco and Texas to Germany and Switzerland, and has published many scientific papers, including naming new genera and species of pterosaurs, dinosaurs and ichthyosaurs! And is currently studying a T-rex called Trinity! She is an experienced island fossil guide, delivering guided walks for over 10 years!
Theo Vickers – BSc. hons | MSc.
Theo is a marine biologist, underwater photographer and avid island fossil hunter! Born on the island, Theo grew up with a love for all natural history, from fossils to marine life. As a local fossil hunter, Theo is interested in an array of island fossils, but is best-known for his important fossil mammal finds! As a marine biologist, he works actively to promote the marine conservation of the island’s seas, recording local marine species, running rockpool safaris and undertaking his PhD at the University of Portsmouth on the island’s sharks and rays. His underwater imagery of the island’s seas in-particular has won international awards!
Jack Wonfor
Jack is an island-born fossil collector and visiting-researcher at the University of Portsmouth. From childhood Jack has amassed a significant collection of island fossils, with a particular interest in ammonites. He made a name for himself with the enormous specimens he collects from the ‘Back of the Wight’ and in 2023 discovered a specimen of the ammonite Tropaeum bowerbanki, which may be the largest of its species ever found! More recently he has focused his efforts on developing his fossil preparation skills, and when not fossil hunting, serves our island community as a firefighter.
Joe Thompson – BSc. | MSci.
Born and raised on the Solent coast of the New Forest, Joe is life-long palaeontologist and fossil collector with a BSc. and MSci. in Palaeontology and Evolution from the University of Bristol. Joe’s interests are the fossils of island and Hampshire’s Eocene and Oligocene deposits, particularly mammals and his research has focused on the micro-vertebrate fossils of the late Eocene! Alongside this Joe has actively participated in fossil digs across the UK, his best personal find being 2 marine reptile skeletons, which he also prepared!
Joe shares his fossil finds on his Instagram @southcoastfossils and also runs his own fossil walks at Highcliffe!
Nelle Findlay
Moving to the island from Bermuda at a young-age, local fossil guide Nelle has had a life-long fascination with palaeontology, particularly with the ice age and human evolution! Nelle is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree in Modern Languages and can speak Spanish and British Sign Language. In her free time she enjoys watching documentaries on prehistory, knitting and solving Rubik’s cubes! Nelle thoroughly enjoys sharing the island’s rich ancient past with our guests!
Huxley Hunt
Born on the island Huxley is well-known locally as a popular magician! But behind the magic is a true fossil enthusiast with several years experience of guiding on our coastline. Huxley loves fossil hunting on the island’s shores and sharing the experience with guests, incorporating entertainment and even magic into his friendly and educational style of fossil walks! Huxley also works at Fort Victoria’s Planetarium and is an active member of the Robert Hooke Society!
