A PADDLEBOARDER said he won the ‘water sports jackpot’ after spending the morning playing with a pod of dolphins off Branksome beach.

Ben Felton, an electrician from Bournemouth, regularly paddleboards before work.

However, on July 18, he was greeted by three 'spectacular' bottlenose dolphins.

The water sports enthusiast and his two friends, Nick Woods and Viktoria Bajo, got to interact with the dolphins for more than an hour as they jumped over their boards and raced past.

Ben said: “It was such an unreal experience; I was almost shaking.

“They were so playful; they were jumping around over the paddle boards and the boats, coming up between us and going underneath, upside down, breaching the water, and doing little dives.

“They came right up to us, showing off.”

The footage was captured using a GoPro, which videoed the trio swimming through the water.

“Watching back the footage, it was amazing to sort of relive it. A woman who was with us shared some photos, and it sort of brought us all together.

“You can hear the dolphins clicking under the water, it is incredible,” Ben added.

This was the first time Ben had ever seen dolphins this close, and he was surprised at their size.

He said: “They were so big; I was a bit worried about getting in the water with them. Even though they were giving off a really friendly vibe.

“When they were breathing through their blow holes it was surprisingly loud because of how big they were.”

This particular pod has been spotted numerous times off Branksome beach this summer.

Ben said his friends saw them again the following day.

Dolphins are regularly seen off the Dorset coast.

Dorset Wildlife Trust says bottlenose dolphins are the species most frequently observed in Dorset.

It says: "These robust dolphins tend to spend more time inshore than other species, making them easier to spot from the land as well as from the sea."

Ben added: “I can’t believe they stayed with us for so long, it was absolutely incredible and a completely unreal experience.”