DOLPHINS have been filmed racing members of a gig club along the west Dorset coast.

Members of Bridport Gig Club stumbled across the creatures off the coast at West Bay, as juniors rowed past the iconic East Cliff.

Bridport Gig Club member Crystal Johnson said she was 'amazed' to see the pod of bottlenose dolphins swimming alongside the boat.

"It was absolutely fantastic to see" she said.

"There must have been about eight or ten of them swimming alongside the boat. They followed us along for a bit, then finally lost interest and swam off. I was amazed to see them."

Crystal has not seen dolphins in Lyme Bay before, but sightings can be quite common.

"It's not what you expect to see when you go out with the gig club," added Crystal. "It was great the juniors were able to see them.

"It's the first time I've seen them here, but I have only been part of the club for about nine months. People have seen them here before and I've been told that they have been seen over the last couple of years."

Bridport-based charity MARINElife are hoping to record sightings of bottlenose dolphins across the south west this summer.

The charity have identified the creatures in the video as bottlenose dolphins.

Rachel Davies, conservation science manager at MARINElife, said: "We do see quite a lot of dolphins being spotted in Lyme Bay.

"There are inshore and offshore populations and we quite regularly see these inshore pods. They are very common in the south west, particularly Cornwall and Devon - but they do make it along to Dorset too.

"We would urge anyone who spots any dolphins to get in touch and let as know as we keep a log of all sightings. Everything reported is logged, and we are hoping to have a big survey in August to see how many we actually have in the south west."

The video was filmed by Rob Shopland and Carol Marshall. For more information on Bridport Gig Club, please visit bridportgigclub.org