A man has revealed he filmed two sharks off the coast of Britain - just weeks before a nearby beach was evacuated over safety fears.
Anthony Robins was paddleboarding near Hengistbury Head, Dorset when he spotted dorsal fins above the water 50 yards away.
He and pal Nick Jenner, both 48, headed towards the spot where the sharks were swimming - and captured them on camera.
The sighting took place on July 16, around three weeks before a rumoured shark sighting at Boscombe - located just five miles away.
Authorities were forced to shut the popular beach on August 4 after reports of a "large marine animal" in the water.
Anthony told DorsetLive he and Nick are frequent paddlers in the area - but have never seen a shark before.
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"We were about 400 yards offshore," he said.
"The water was absolutely glassy so you could just see anything cutting through.
"We saw the dorsal fins from about 50 yards away and so we moved towards them.
"The pair of them were consistently swimming with the larger one in front and the smaller behind."
Both Anthony and Nick are active members of the local SUP and coastal sports groups.
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Through local commentators, they have been able to speculate what types of sharks the creatures may have been.
He added: "They were about four-foot in length and my mates have said they are likely to have been tope or smoothhounds."
With topes growing to nearly 2m in length and smoothhounds to 1.5m, the pair are likely to be young and growing.
Anthony added: "I reckon they are always there, it’s just sometimes when the water is so flat you can see anything."
The RNLI was forced to evacuate the beach at Boscombe after reports of a large animal and "significant movement" in the sea.
Lifeguards raised the red flags and ordered beachgoers to avoid the water while they conducted a search of the area.
The official advice is to stay 200 metres away from sharks or large marine animals.
The RNLI said: "As a precautionary measure, lifeguards asked beach visitors to evacuate the water and put up red flags.
"Lifeguards used their Rescue Watercraft (RWC) to scan the area and visitors were able to go back into the water half an hour later."
A dad later claimed his son was "lucky to be alive" after something brushed past his leg as he swam.
Officials have since said it is safe to be in the water and that shark sightings are rare.
