Pod of 30 dolphins has close encounter with paddleboarder in Brixham harbour

A paddleboarder has described a close encounter with a pod of dolphins in Brixham Harbour as being "magical."

Isabelle O'Shea, who is known as The Dolphin Lady, regularly travels from her home in Woodbury to the South Devon coast to try and spot dolphins.

On this day she had been out on a boat trip in Torbay and spotted the pod and realised they were heading for Brixham Harbour to feed on fish.

Isabelle decided to grab her paddleboard so she could sit and watch them. But a short while later they became intrigued by her presence and the whole pod swam towards her.

"I sat on my paddleboard watching them feed and then realised they were coming towards me. I just sat there, and on a couple of occasions the whole pod went under my board and one breached to say hello. It was so close I could have touched them.

"I am obsessed with dolphins and regularly search for them. I have done this for ten years and I have had hundreds of encounters but I have never had one that good.

"It was a maternal pod of about thirty dolphins with calves.

"It really was my lucky day. I couldn't have asked for anything better it was magical. I don't think I will ever top that."