It's been an incredibly busy week for coastguards along the west coast of Dorset, with callouts to a possible body sighting, a potential grenade and people acting dangerously on the top of cliffs.

On Friday morning, West Bay Coastguard Rescue Team rushed to Lyme Regis to help its coastguards with what was reported to be a possible grenade.

The Royal Navy Bomb Disposal (EOD) also responded. On arrival, the West Bay Officers worked alongside the Lyme Regis team to secure the scene ahead of assessment by EOD. Once on scene, EOD inspected the item and found it not to be dangerous, instead it appeared to be part of an engine starter motor assembly. All teams were then stood down to return to station.

The week beforehand, the West Bay team received reports members of the public were putting themselves at risk by climbing the cliffs to the east of Seatown car park.

On arrival, members of the public were spotted having climbed around 25 meters up the cliff face and were putting themselves in extreme danger searching for fossils. After dispensing some swift and direct safety advice, officers were stood down to return to station.

It was a particularly busy day for the West Bay team on April 9, when, shortly before 3pm, officers were alerted by Solent Coastguard NMOC (National Maritime Operations Centre) to reports from a member of the public of sighting a possible body on Portland. As officers were responding to the station, the team was stood down by Solent Coastguard with no further action from the team required.

In a second callout that day, a woman had fallen whilst walking on a rock armour in West Bay and was unable to get up.

Officers found the woman at West Pier in an uncomfortable position on the rocks and unable to get up due to existing health conditions - not helped by the poor weather and slippery surface of the rocks.

They created a platform using the teams rigid rope rescue stretcher and affixed safety ropes to the casualty and stretcher. With assistance from officers, the woman was helped up and manoeuvred off the rocks and back to the safety of the pier. No further medical assistance was required and the woman was taken to a local café to warm up. The team was then stood down to return to station.

The coastguard has urged the public to take care and stay safe on the coast this spring, but should you find yourself in difficulty, or if you see something which gives you cause for concern, call 999 and ask for the coastguard.