COASTGUARDS were twice called to West Bay after George the dolphin appeared in the harbour.

They were alerted by the harbour master when people began jumping into the water to play with the creature.

And rescuers and police were called again just to usher members of the public out of the harbour. A coastguard spokesman said people were asked to leave the water for their own safety and to prevent the dolphin becoming stressed.

The dolphin was earlier spotted in Weymouth harbour, where he was last seen captivating crowds a few years ago.

It now appears that he is back - and the reason could be a tasty seafood treat. He was spotted in Weymouth by retired works manager Ian Mitchelhill, who said a fisherman told him George was probably back after anchovies which are about at the moment.

Ian, 68, whose flat overlooks the harbour, said: "I happened to be looking out of the window when I suddenly saw a fin in the harbour, so I put a big lens on my camera and went down. I must have spent at least an hour photographing the dolphin which I found out later was George.

"The harbour master's boat was trying to entice him out of the harbour because it is not really a good place for him but every time they started to succeed another boat would come into the harbour and George would turn round and follow that.

"It was quite a while before the harbour master appeared to finally succeed in getting George out of the harbour for a while - but within a couple of hours he returned behind two motorcruisers.

"I have been on whale-watching trips and last year I went photographing polar bears near Churchill in Canada which was an absolute privilege.

"Photographing George was right on my doorstep and it was so unusual to see a creature like that right in the harbour. It was really good."