Coastguards 'rescued' a tree trunk after a call from a concerned member of the public.

The volunteer crew of the RNLI lifeboat in Lyme Regis answered two calls on Friday following reports of a kayak in difficulty and an unspecified object in the water.

Lyme Regis Coastguard team were called to reports of a possible upturned kayak and a person in the water on Friday morning, just after 10.30am.

A spokesman for Lyme Regis Coastguard said: "On arrival at the beach to the east of Charmouth, the team decided to request the launch of the Lyme Regis lifeboat to carry out a more detailed inshore search.

"In the meantime, two coastguard officers met the first informant to ensure that we were all looking in the same area.

"After a short time, the lifeboat located a tree trunk close to a flagged marker buoy which in the haze looked deceptively like a kayak and a person.

"We would like to thank the member of public that called the Coastguard. It is always better to call the Coastguard to make sure that nothing untoward has happened.

"Remember, for emergencies on the cliffs, beaches, sea or tidal river, call 999 and ask for the coastguard."

The other call to an unspecified object in the water also turned out to be tree logs.

Both logs were retrieved by the lifeboat crew, one taken on board and the larger one towed back to Lyme Regis harbour.

The crew launched at 11am and returned to harbour at 12.30pm.

A lifeboat spokesman said: "In both cases it was better to be safe than sorry after the reports were received.”