A dead dolphin washed ashore at Weston Mouth at the weekend.

Beer Coastguard was called out at 1.35pm on Saturday (January 2), to the area between Branscombe and Sidmouth.

Coastguard station manager Terry Hoare said: “We do not get many washed in, we have had a whale before.

“Also because it is a royal fish, same as a whale, sturgeon and porpoise we have to go down and take measurements which are send to the Natural History Museum.”

The team measured the animal at 2.3 metres long.

Mr Hoare said: “There were no obvious signs of the cause of death, so we do not know what happened to it.”

East Devon District Council (EDDC) were contacted, but passed the clean up operation onto the National Trust who own the beach.

The council is responsible for five beaches including Beer, Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth, Sidmouth and Seaton.

An EDDC spokesman said: “We did receive calls about the dead dolphin on Weston Beach and our officers have already spoken to the National Trust, which owns the beach, to alert them to the dolphin, as it is their responsibility to deal with it. We offered to provide assistance in case the National Trust were unable to dispose of the body, but our help wasn’t required on this occasion.”