BRITS heading to a Butlin’s holiday camp this year can also pay a trip to the site of the world’s oldest forest.
For the last five years, a fossil forest in upstate New York had been considered to be the oldest-known forest on the planet.
However, a new discovery made in England earlier this year shows that forests were growing on the south coast around 390 million years ago.
The new found forest, the remains of which were uncovered back in March, is about four million years older than the previous record holder from the US.
Scientists uncovered what they believe to be the world’s oldest fossil forest hidden in the cliffs along the Devon and Somerset coast.
The fossil forest dates back to the Devonian Period, 419 million to 358 million years ago, when life on earth was experiencing massive changes.
The fossilised trees were uncovered in the Hangman Sandstone Formation near Minehead, close to the Butlin’s holiday camp.
These formations are found along the South West Coast Path, looking out over the sea.
Researchers from both Cardiff and Cambridge Universities said the palm-like plants would have had thin trunks with hollow centres and wouldn’t have looked like woodland does now.
Professor Neil Davies, from the Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences, said: “This was a pretty weird forest, not like any forest you would see today.”
He added that undergrowth and grass were yet to appear. Instead, twigs dropped by the trees had a “big effect” on the landscape.
Davies said life was changed “fundamentally” during the Devonian period when the interaction between water and land altered.
“Trees and other plants helped stabilise sediment through their root systems,” he added.
“But little is known about the very earliest forests.
“The evidence contained in these fossils preserves a key stage in earth’s development, when rivers started to operate in a fundamentally different way than they had before, becoming the great erosive force they are today.”
Scientists had previously assumed the stretch of coast in southwest England did not contain significant plant fossils.
Researchers say their findings, published in the Journal of the Geological Society, show how ancient trees helped stabilise riverbanks and coastlines.
They also add an extra natural attraction for visitors to the popular holiday region.
Butlin’s Minehead resort overlooks the coast not far from where the fossils were found and visitors staying at the resort can explore the area, knowing about its fascinating history.
The area is known among fossil hunters as a great place to discover evidence of animals from millions of years ago, with the nearby Kilve beach among the more popular spots.
Davies added: “People sometimes think British rocks have been looked at enough but this shows that revisiting them can yield important discoveries.”
Meanwhile, this beach in the north of England is also a fossil hunters’ hotspot.
And some people say that this beach is like being on the moon.
