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Sam, from Bridgend in South Wales arrived at the site no more than 10 hours after a cliff fall, which unearthed the fossilised foot. His tutor and Reader in Palaeobiology at the University of Portsmouth, Dr David Martill, has since examined the find and concluded that it is part of the same therapod dinosaur – a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex – which can be seen at National Museum Cardiff until 31 August.

His tutor had suggested he visit the beach because its Jurassic cliffs are rich in fossils, little realising that a cliff fall just hours earlier had exposed another piece of the dinosaur.  However if Sam had arrived at the beach later, the fossil – found sitting on top of a slab of rock – would have been washed away by the tide of the River Severn.

Sam, who is about to start his third year at the university, said: “I had no idea what I’d picked up. It was my first day of doing field work for my third year project, and I was just wandering up and down the beach looking for fossils. The dinosaur they found at the beach wasn’t even on my mind.”

The student happened to see the fossil, embedded in a 20 cm piece of rock, because it was in his line of sight as he was walking along.

“It was pure luck that I found it. It was just sitting on top of a slab of rock. It was obvious the fossil was fingers or toes, because there were three in a row, but the first thing that came to mind was that it was some sort of plesiosaur.”

Sam’s tutor, Reader in Palaeobiology at the University of Portsmouth, Dr David Martill, confirmed immediately that it was the missing foot after Sam emailed him pictures of his find.

“My first reaction was that I was very lucky,” said Sam. “Then I thought ‘This is going to make my project’ and started jumping up and down like a little boy!”

Dr Martill said:

“This was a chance in a million find and highlights how important it is to encourage fossil-hunting in this country.

“This new specimen will help us chart the evolution of dinosaur feet, specifically looking at the number of toes and the nature of the ankle bone.

“What we can tell already is that this dinosaur was primitive. It’s right at the bottom of where we draw the line and say ‘These rocks are Triassic, and these are Jurassic’.

Sam has already donated the foot to Amgueddfa Cymru, who hope to put it on display at National Museum Cardiff with the rest of the skeleton in the near future.

Dr Caroline Buttler, Head of Palaeontology at Amgueddfa Cymru added:

“The dinosaur found by Nick and Rob Hanigan is the first skeleton of a theropod found in Wales. Sam’s find adds to its significance because we can learn more about the animal and how it is related to the dinosaurs that eventually evolved into birds.

“We’re very grateful to Sam for donating the foot to the Museum and hope to put it on display for our visitors to see very soon.”

The skeleton, already on display at National Museum Cardiff includes the small dinosaur’s razor sharp teeth, and claws.

The Welsh dinosaur was a small, slim, agile dinosaur, probably only about 50cm tall and about 200cm long, which had a long tail to help it balance. It lived at the time when south Wales was a coastal region, offering a warm climate. It had lots of small, blade-like, sharp, serrated teeth suggesting that it would have eaten insects, small mammals and other reptiles.

National Museum Cardiff’s exhibition and activity programme has been supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Entry to the Museum is free, thanks to the support of the Welsh Government.