A BOURNEMOUTH man out on his fishing boat was amazed to be joined by dozens of dolphins last weekend.

Rod Lewis, 39, first spotted one of the playful pods between Sandbanks Chain Ferry and Bournemouth Pier. Before long he was surrounded by at least 50 of the marine mammals.

Bournemouth Echo:

The professional photographer and filmmaker did not have his camera with him at the time of the spectacle, but he did get some footage on his phone.

He explained: “I was on my sports fishing boat heading to the Isle of Wight and went to catch some mackerel when I suddenly saw them. I thought it must have been a pod of dolphins at first, and I sped up to catch them up.

“I then realised there were a whole load of them heading along the coast towards Lymington. It was like they were on some sort of pilgrimage. They were swimming at around five to six knots and were very well spread out. I must have seen at least 50 in total.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Rod stayed with the creatures for around 40 minutes and described the experience as “amazing”. He said: “I’ve seen dolphins in France and between the UK and the Channel Islands before but never in these waters. To see that amount was just amazing. I was absolutely overwhelmed.

“They were jumping in front of my boat at times. I’m not an expert but I also noticed a huge amount of very big jellyfish in the water at the time, which they may have been feeding on or playing with.”