A DEAD dolphin was found washed up the shoreline near Lymington.

The creature was seen lying on its side with a flipper sticking out of the water by Marcus-Ward, co-founder of the Wild New Forest Project.

He said: "I went for a walk on Wednesday and saw it lying on its side near the seawall, with its flipper sticking out of the water.

“It wasn’t moving and was clearly dead, but there were no obvious signs of injury.”

A post-mortem examination will be carried out at the Zoological Society of London in a bid to establish the cause of death.

Marcus added: “Any common Dolphin found in the Solent is likely to be in distress.

“It’s a deep-water creature that’s rarely seen in shallow, inter-tidal areas. It’s not comfortable in that type of environment and there’s not much food.”

Two live dolphins have also been spotted in the Solent area in recent days.