Two dolphins, thought to be a mother and her calf, were rescued after getting into difficulty at a beach in Scotland.

A member of the public spotted the adult female dolphin on the beach at Monifieth in Angus at around 8am on Thursday and alerted the Coastguard.

The dolphin was placed back in the water but appeared to be returning to the beach again, so the diving teams boarded a lifeboat to monitor her safe progress to deeper water.

A juvenile dolphin, thought to be the female’s calf, also approached the beach and was safely returned to the water.

Senior Coastguard operations officer Hector Sutherland said: “We work as one team with other emergency services to rescue people to safety and this was a particularly good example of that teamwork.

“It’s not that often we get to rescue two dolphins in one day but we regularly train for all sorts of rescues including marine life so we all pulled together to make it work.”

BDMLR divers assisted the Coastguard with the rescue mission (Maritime and Coastguard Agency/PA)

The rescue was co-ordinated by Coastguard teams from Carnoustie and Arbroath, as well as the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat from Broughty Ferry.

Paul Smith, area co-ordinator for Tayside BDMLR, said: “The collaboration between the emergency services teams was a critical factor in this successful rescue and the Coastguard teams were just fantastic.

“These dolphins were both healthy and well so we hope they will now be swimming back out to their more usual territory of deeper waters.”