PERSONAL items left on a beach sparked a search on Sunday.

Officials from the coastguard and the RNLI were called to Swanage during the morning after the items were reported.

Coastguard volunteers carried out a search of the shoreline from the pier. Shortly after 10.30am, the inshore lifeboat was called to help.

The crew of the lifeboat searched close inshore round to Ballard Point while coastguard officials worked their way along the beach. As the Shannon Class lifeboat was being used as part of an exercise at Studland, this vessel was also used in the search.

Nothing was spotted, and the search was cancelled at around 11.15am.

A spokesperson from Swanage Coastguard said: "The team was tasked to search the shoreline and beach for any further items, or perhaps a person in difficulty.

"The Shannon all-weather lifeboat diverted from its training exercise to do a sweep of the bay and was soon joined by the inshore boat.

"After further investigations and a thorough examination of the items which were brought back to the scene by the finder, it was determined that they were unlikely to be linked to someone in difficulty and the teams stood down."