A four-year-old has discovered a dinosaur footprint in Barry, while out on a walk with her family that will help palaeontologists understand how the creatures walked.

Lily Wilder was walking with her father Richard at Bendricks Bay when she spotted the footprint on a loose block.

The specimen is a type of footprint from a Grallator, and dates back 220 million years.

Sally Wilder, Lily's mother, said: "Lily saw it as when they were walking along, and said "Daddy look". It would have been at her shoulder height.

"When Richard came home and showed me the photograph, I thought it looked amazing. But we didn't know what it was!

"Richard and I thought it was too good to be true. I posted it on a fossil identifiers page, and they all got really excited about it.

"They put me in touch with the right people, which was lucky really because it might have been destroyed by the element.

"I had heard that there were dinosaur prints down there but never seen any, so I thought someone might have scraped it out as a joke.

"The archeologist said if it was what he thought it was, it would be a really significant find," said Sally.

The family are still realising the impact of Lily's discovery.

"It dawned on me the other day, that in years to come there will be Lily's future generations saying 'my great great great grandma found this fossil in the Cardiff museum!'.

"Lily's kind of taking it all in, but describing what 220 million years is has been a bit tricky.

"She knows there's a lot of people interested, and we keep telling her but it's hard to comprehend really," she said.

Lily says her favourite dinosaur is a T-Rex. It is thought that her discovery could help scientists establish more about how dinosaurs walked.

The National Museum of Wales Palaeontology curator Cindy Howells was notified of the find and has described it as the best specimen ever found on this beach.

The new footprint is just over 10cm long and is likely to have been made by a dinosaur that stood about 75cm tall and 2.5m long.

It would have been a slender animal which walked on its two hind feet and actively hunted other small animals and insects.

There are no fossilised bones from this 220-million-year-old dinosaur, but similar footprints in the USA are known to have been made by the dinosaur Coelophysis which does not occur in the UK.

Many of the other footprints found at Bendricks Bay in the past have most likely not been from dinosaurs, but rather from some of the more crocodilian-type reptiles that also inhabited the area.

The beach is under private ownership and is legally protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The landowner, British Institute for Geological Conservation is a charity that works to conserve natural heritage through site ownership, education and community engagement.

Special permission had to be sought from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) in order to legally remove it. The fossil was extracted this week and will be taken to National Museum Cardiff where it will be protected for future generations to enjoy, and for scientists to study.

Dinosaurs first appeared around 230 million years ago, so this footprint represents a very important early point in their evolution, when the different groups of dinosaurs were first diversifying.

Its spectacular preservation may help scientists establish more about the actual structure of their feet as the preservation is clear enough to show individual pads and even claw impressions.

Cindy Howells, Palaeontology Curator, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, said: "This fossilised dinosaur footprint from 220 million years ago is one of the best-preserved examples from anywhere in the UK and will really aid palaeontologists to get a better idea about how these early dinosaurs walked.

"Its acquisition by the museum is mainly thanks to Lily and her family who first spotted it.

"During the Covid pandemic scientists from Amgueddfa Cymru have been highlighting the importance of nature on people's doorstep and this is a perfect example of this.

Obviously, we don't all have dinosaur footprints on our doorstep but there is wealth of nature local to you if you take the time to really look close enough."

Ben Evans from British Institute for Geological Conservation said: "Working together with Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales has allowed this amazing specimen to be safely recovered and re-homed alongside other specimens from this site.

"This beach is a site of special scientific interest and while we encourage people to visit and use it responsibly, collection of rocks, minerals and fossils from this site is not permitted. The BIGC, Amgueddfa Cymru or Natural Resources Wales should be contacted in the event of a new discovery."