Dramatic rock fall at Portland Bill

The image, captured by Portland resident Jeffrey Webb, shows how the island's coastline has been forever changed by the force of nature. The fall happened near Red Crane and follows recent stormy weather.

Mr Webb's photograph shows the much lighter colour of the newly-exposed rock, in striking contrast to the surrounding cliff face.

His daughter Naomi said her father noticed what had happened while on a dog walk last night, returning this morning to capture the breathtaking shot.

Portland's coastline has been forever changed due to a huge cliff fall (Picture courtesy of Jeffrey Webb)

The huge chunk was described as a 'belter' by Portland resident Marcus Dampier-Smith of the BillWatch Facebook page - who told the Echo it was only a matter of time before it came crashing into the sea.

"This chunk of rock has been marked for falling for a while now," he said.

"We’ve seen the large cracks running through it and knew it was only a matter of time. We’re lucky here that we have relatively little erosion in comparison to further along the Jurassic coast. But when chunks go here, they tend to go big."

Mr Dampier-Smith shared a picture of a similar fall that happened further along the Portland coast just over a year ago.

A large chunk of the rockface that fell around a year ago - picture courtesy of BillWatch

He is now urging people to stay safe while enjoying the island's rugged coastline:  "People love Portland Bill and walking over the rocks, but should pay attention to cracks and keep back from the edges. People do take risks."

In 2014 an ancient rock stack on Portland Bill was destroyed by high seas.

Pom Pom rock was once a stack formation on the southern edge of the island before mother nature took her toll.

Commenting at the time, local historian Stuart Morris described how the entire feature weighing hundreds of tonnes was broken by the 'immense' force of the sea during a storm.

Did you see what happened? Send your pictures to newsdesk@dorsetecho.co.uk