TWO children have found "rare" specimens of a fossilised sea creature at the Cotswold Water Park.

More clues to the watery past of the Cotswold Water Park were unearthed on another fruitful fossil hunt organised by the Cotswold Water Park Society.

Emily Baldry, five, from Chippenham, discovered the Rieneckia ammonite during a fossil hunt organised by the Cotswold Water Park Society on Sunday.

Hugo Ashley, from Poulton, and his grandfather also found an ammonite cadoceras, and another Rieneckia ammonite.

A society spokeswoman said Rieneckia ammonites were "extremely rare"

Emily Baldry, 5, from Chippenham was on the trip with her father Jon and grandparents when she came across an extremely rare Rieneckia ammonite whilst digging amongst the Oxford clay with her spade.

After some heavyweight assistance from her Dad and palaeontologist Dr Neville Hollingworth, the fossilised sea creature, measuring approximately 40 cm in diameter was brought into the daylight after 162.8 million years.

Revealing the stunning spiky ammonite from the block of mudstone will require some careful and meticulous preparation, but once the ammonite is exposed it will go on display in the CWP Gateway Information Centre.

In the Jurassic era, 165 million years ago the area now known as the Cotswold Water Park was a warm shallow sea, teeming with marine life.

Other young fossil hunters were delighted with their finds which included two teeth from Ice Age woolly rhinoceros, one complete with an extremely long root, which has survived intact in the gravels for more than 50,000 years.

After several hours of persistent excavation, Hugo Ashley and his grandfather Charlie uncovered a multiblock- a nodule of Oxford clay containing some fossilised wood, an ammonite cadoceras, and another rare Rieneckia ammonite.

Pieces of coral and many ammonites were also dug up by the enthusiastic families.

For more information about these trips email info@waterpark.org