A DOLPHIN in distress in shallow water off Weymouth Beach was rescued by quick-thinking beachgoers.

The common dolphin was spotted bobbing in the surf near to the Pier Bandstand at around 9pm on Tuesday night.

A crowd quickly gathered on the sand to catch a glimpse of the unusual sight with onlookers commenting the dolphin seemed determined to make its way on to the beach.

Tim Newton, the owner of Al Molo restaurant, caught the action on camera.

Mr Newton said: “It was a very special moment. It is an unusual sight seeing a dolphin in the Bay and it’s certainly not something I’ve seen before.

“It was just swimming around right on the shore and it looked like it might have been trying to beach itself.”

Several people tried to coax the dolphin back out to sea to no avail before Weymouth teenager Matthew Mahoney came to its rescue.

The 19-year-old accounts worker said: “I just went down the beach for a swim after work when I spotted a fin in the water.

"I had just had a nose bleed in the sea so my first thought was that it was a shark, when I released it was a dolphin I went to have a closer look.

“It was just being pushed around by the waves, at first it looked like it was dead because it wasn’t moving very much but you could tell it wasn’t.”

Matthew and two others tried to push the creature out to sea but it quickly swam back to shore.

He said: “As I was already in my swim stuff, I decided to take it out a bit further until it swam away. I was holding it in my arms, it really was quite an experience.”

While bottlenose dolphins have been spotted off the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth in recent months marine experts say it is unusual to see the deep-water common dolphin in such a shallow bay.

Stephen Marsh, operations manager at the British Divers and Marine Life Rescue, said: “They can become disorientated. I have been told there is a lot of mackerel in the bay at the moment so it could have been looking for food.

“Sightings of the common dolphin are becoming more frequent in our waters, particularly over the last couple of years, but we don’t know why that is.

“I can’t say from the photos or video if it is in a good condition unfortunately, but it was good they got it back out to sea and stopped it from getting beached. They have given that dolphin a chance which is great thing.”