A NEW fossil hunting tour company has been launched.

Wight Coast Fossils will provide fossil walks on the Island.

The company is made up of three Island fossil hunters who volunteer at local museums.

Student Jack Wonfor, 18, set to start a palaeontology degree later this year, is often found on the south coast of the Island, hunting for ammonites.

He has a great knowledge of all the fossils to be found from the chalk and lower greensand, having amassed a huge collection.

Marine biology student Theo Vickers, 20, has a keen interest in Cetaceans, and spends his spare time walking the north coast of the Island, finding fossils of mammals and collecting sediment samples for sieving.

This sieving has allowed him to find 30 million year old microvertebrates, most of which look like a grain of sand to the naked eye.

Palaeontology graduate Megan Jacobs, 23, is now studying for a masters degree.

She has published scientific papers and is currently working on publications on the IW's geology.

She has collected from the Island's beaches for more than 15 years, specifically from the south west coast, collecting dinosaurs, and gives guided tours.

The company started as a group of friends after meeting as volunteers at the Dinosaur Isle museum.

They set up a Facebook page, posting about the Island's geology or fossils, which proved very popular — gaining more than 800 followers in just a few months.

The team are now branching out to provide guided tours of the Island's beaches.

They said: "We offer the public a handful of the most fossiliferous beaches for public tours, where you are guaranteed to find lots of fossils you are able to keep.

"We also offer specialised private tours for small groups, who may have specific interests."

For more information, visit www.wightcoastfossils.co.uk.