RESIDENTS reported seeing an unfamiliar helicopter flying low in Poole today.

Helicopters from the National Police Air Service, HM Coastguard and Air Ambulance are typically spotted but on this occasion sightings were not related to any of these agencies.

The flying in late morning and early afternoon on February 18, which was witnessed in many areas, including over the Nuffield Industrial Estate.

The yellow helicopter belonged to Western Power Distribution (WPD), who confirmed they had been requested to assist with maintenance checks on half of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.

A SSEN spokesman said: "There can be sometimes be a request from control to use WPD’s helicopter for line patrol as the lines are too long to patrol by foot.

"The helicopter team then reports back on any defects they spot so that we can go take a closer look and repair if we deem necessary."