A fisherman dropped everything to film a pod of about 60 dolphins just four- and-a-half miles off the Sussex coast.

Jai Tahsin, 53, from Patcham was out on his boat doing some recreational fishing off the Brighton coast on Saturday afternoon when he heard an unusual noise.

When he turned around he was greeted with a huge pod of excitable dolphins and rushed to get his mobile phone to film them at play.

Mr Tahsin said: “I was just sitting there in my boat minding my own business and then I heard this strange sound behind me.

“So I got up and looked around and saw all these dolphins.

“They were coming right up to the side of the boat and being really sociable so I thought, ‘well I have to film this’.

“It was amazing.”

Mr Tahsin has been fishing since he was a child and has owned his own boat for 16 years.

Although he has spotted dolphins in the past, has never seen as many as 60.

Paul Johnson, principal marine officer for the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), said: “The animals sighted are most probably common dolphins, although we cannot give a definitive answer from the available footage.
 

“Common dolphins are seen along the South Coast fairly regularly and usually come to the area looking for food.

“They will eat most fish and are known to chase shoals of fish – such as sprats – that sometimes accumulate along our coast in the winter months.
 

“Dolphins and all cetaceans are protected by international and national wildlife legislation in the UK.

“The Seawatch Foundation is also interested in dolphin sightings and offers a range of ways to report these.”

The dolphins made their way towards Brighton Marina after Mr Tahsin had fed them some mackerel and squid and a number of sightings were made from the Marina.

The fisherman added: “I’ve seen them in ones and twos before, but never this many.

“I don’t usually run to the newspapers with videos of dolphins, but this was a bit special.

“I couldn’t believe how many there were and I just thought it was so unusual.”