The RNLI cleared the beach at Boscombe on August 4 with swimmers ordered out of the water due to the ‘unidentified sea creature’ with speculation it was a shark. 

A spokesperson for the RNLI said: "There were sightings of large marine life at Boscombe beach."

A witness on the beach at the time told the Echo: "There were some splashes in the water and the lifeguards said they hadn't seen anything like it in 35 years."

Following the incident, the beach was temporarily closed with a red flag raised in place of a red and yellow one.

The beach was then reopened half an hour later after lifeguards searched the area for half an hour but could not find anything.

After the incident, Peter Tinsley, marine policy and evidence manager at the Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: "The sea is a big place so anything can turn up, what's more likely is a basking shark but that would be on the surface.

"Thresher sharks are known in this area chasing mackerel on the surface so that's a possibility."

"However, a shark probably would not take a lure so it could be a bluefin tuna, really a large sunfish is possible - they have an enormous fin and can be found on the surface."

Darron Tapper

Darron Tapper, 54, was fishing in the water near Boscombe at the time, when he says on his way back to shore something grabbed his lure; taking his equipment with it.

Mr Tapper told the Daily Echo: "I was pulling a lure back into shore and something grabbed that, I almost turned over in my kayak.

"I spun around and saw a big shadow. When I got back on the beach the jet ski was being launched and the lifeguards were telling everybody to get out of the water."

Other shark sightings 

Last July, Christchurch resident Anthony Robins went paddleboarding near Hengistbury Head with his friend Nick when the two came across a pair of sharks.

Anthony Robins, inset, came across two sharks in the water near Hengistbury Head

He said: "They were very cautious so we pursued them a bit at a distance and they came underneath the board – they were not very large at all.

"They were absolutely beautiful and not in the least bit scary. It's not often you see something like that so it was a great feeling to see the sharks."

Speaking with the Echo at the time, Ali Hood, director of conservation at the Shark Trust, said: "With no photos or clear footage the Shark Trust can only speculate on what was seen.

"But as UK waters are home to a fascinating diversity of large marine life dolphins, small whales, blue fin tuna and a variety of sharks; this sighting could be one of many exciting species."

Read more: IN PICTURES: The sharks found lurking in Dorset's waters

Ali Wood with the basking shark spine she discovered by Fisherman's Wharf, Southbourne

In March this year, a giant spine found washed up on a beach in Bournemouth was believed to be that of a basking shark. 

Ali Wood was walking when she noticed something unusual on the promenade near Fisherman’s Walk in Southbourne.

She said: "The promenade was covered in sand and I was going slowly as I had to push my bike. I smelt it before I saw it – the smell of rotting fish. However, what I saw was really strange. It looked to be half a metre long at least, possibly more, and I thought it was plastic, only it looked like a very long spine."

Read more: Shark washes up at popular beach in Poole

Are sharks in UK waters aggressive? 

Sarah Hodgson, a coastal centres assistant also at the Wildlife Trust, told the Echo that “the sharks that we get in British waters aren’t considered to be dangerous or aggressive to humans” with no record of unprovoked attacks in the UK.

She added: “Sharks are regularly encountered by divers and anglers and some species can be found swimming close to the shore including smooth hounds and even basking sharks.”

Read more: Giant spine found along beach belongs to largest UK shark

What sharks can be found in the UK?

More than 40 different species of shark pass through UK waters, but only 21 of these can be found all year round.

Sharks spotted in recent years include basking sharks, porbeagle, dogfish, shortfin mako shark, tope and smooth-hound.

Full list of sharks found in our waters:

From the Shark Trust:

• Porbeagle Shark

• Smallspotted Catsharks

• Nursehounds

• White Shark

• Portuguese Dogfish

• Black Dogfish

• Birdbeak Dogfish

• Rough Longnose Dogfish

• Sailfin Roughshark

• Angular Roughshark

• Longnose Velvet Dogfish

• Knifetooth Shark

• Kitefin Shark

• Gulper Shark

• Spurdog

• Leafscale Gulper Shark

• Basking sharks

• Blue Shark

• Shortfin Mako Shark

• Smooth Hammerhead

• Frilled Shark

• Thresher Shark

• Bigeye Thresher Shark

• Oceanic Whitetip Shark

• Common skate, blue skate

• White Ghost Catshark

• Mouse Catshark

• Bramble Shark

• Velvet Belly Lantern Shark

• Tope Shark

• Blackmouth Catshark, Blackmouth Dogfish

• Smalleye Catshark

• Iceland Shark

• Nurse Shark

• Sharpnose Sevengill Shark

• Bluntnose Sixgill Shark

• Starry smoothhound

• Small-spotted Catshark

• Greenland Shark

• Spiny Dogfish

• Angel Shark

• Smalltooth Sandtiger

• Tiger Shark

• Scalloped Hammerhead Shark