RNLI volunteers were lucky enough to be joined by several dolphins off the Sussex coast.

A crew from Brighton RNLI spotted a pod of dolphins swimming alongside their lifeboat during a Sunday training exercise.

The pod followed the crew for around ten minutes before swimming away near Brighton Marina.

It comes after the Sussex Dolphin Project reported an increase in overall sightings across the county.

Thea Taylor, project lead at Sussex Dolphin Project, told The Argus earlier this year: “We think that there were more dolphins here last year than there have been in the last three years.

“In the summer months, we get three or four sightings per week and last year we had 42 different sightings in total.

“The sightings help us understand the health of the population, determine which pods are interacting with each other and whether they are breeding.

“Last year, we had quite a few sightings of pods with calves, which is really great - especially for the porpoises because it shows that they are breeding in the area.”