A pod of dolphins has started visiting Sidmouth, to the delight of local residents.

They were spotted in the sea off Jacob’s Ladder beach on Friday, July 10, by Alex McLachlan from Sidbury who captured them on video from his boat.

He said: “We initially saw probably 10 - 20 dolphins jumping in the distance travelling East towards Beer/Branscombe.

“They then came in close to the boat, when I got the video.

“We were really excited to see them so close to the boat, they seemed really playful and inquisitive and one swam underneath the boat.

“We hadn’t had much luck fishing that evening and we were on our way back in, so it definitely made the trip worthwhile.

“Amazing to see such graceful creatures so close to our home town.”

Local resident Maria McCarthy said she was ‘delighted’ to see the dolphins as she was walking near Jacob’s Ladder beach at 9pm on Wednesday, July 15.

She said: “It was lovely to see them jumping in the water. About 10 other people were watching and filming and taking photographs but they were some distance out so that was tricky. The sea was very calm and some people had gone out in boats to take a closer look.”