THE MYSTERY of how circles came to appear in the sand at Poole Harbour has been solved.

The Daily Echo was inundated with responses from readers after Dudley Ings was left baffled following a recent visit to Poole.

He was staying at the Sandbanks Hotel when he noticed four perfectly formed concentric circles in the sand at low tide on October 9.

He said: “The largest circle was maybe 20ft in diameter, together with another set of circles further out and possibly another set to the left all making an equilateral tripod arrangement.

Reader Chris Dayman said: “The circles are made by boats bait dragging.

“The skipper throws out a type of anchor to drag up bait as the boat circles causing the round marks on the sea bed. Holes Bay at low tide is covered in the same circles.”