KIMMERIDGE fossil expert Steve Etches has been presented with his MBE at Windsor Castle by the Queen.

Steve said: “I’m really proud to have been awarded an MBE for services to palaeontology. It means a great deal.”

It was announced Steve would be awarded his MBE earlier this year.

Over the past 30 years he has amassed and curated an important collection of more than 2,000 specimens from the Jurassic Coast.

Testament to his skill and dedication, which has already seen him twice awarded the Amateur Palaeontologist Award, is a new multi-million pound centre being developed in Kimmeridge in order to house the fossils he has unearthed.

The centre will also contain a new workshop for Steve, where visitors will be able to see him at work conserving and preparing new specimens.

A spokesman for the Museum of Jurassic Marine Life, where The Etches Collection will be housed, commented: “Steve Etches has gifted his collection to the nation, the land has been donated in Kimmeridge for the museum building and approval has been granted to start construction early next year, with the museum due to open in spring 2016.

“The presentation of an MBE for services to palaeontology and the recognition it infers on the remarkable Etches Collection and its collector therefore comes at a particularly special time.”