A ROCK FALL occurred on Charmouth beach this morning.

Ryall resident Emma O'Bryen was walking her dog along the beach at around 8.30am this morning when she saw a rock fall occur just in front of her.

She had been walking along the beach, towards Seatown - the site of a huge landslip earlier on in the year - for around 20 minutes when she saw a cloud of dust along the cliff side.

Mrs O'Bryen said: "I was walking down the beach this morning looking ahead and suddenly saw a puff of smoke.

I was out walking my dog, Lolly. I didn't hear anything but I could see what it was from the cloud of dust. I did get slightly closer but it was a bit difficult to see where it had actually been.

"There's always a danger around rockfalls but you don't always think about it when you're just walking along the beach. I was in my own world and I just saw it out of the corner of my eye."

She added: "It was quite a surprise, it made me look at the cliff I was standing closer to and thought 'goodness I hope that doesn't collapse'."

There has been a number of significant rock falls over the past year, with sections of cliff falling down at Hive Beach, West Bay and between Seatown and Eype.

Peter Dakin, Coastwatch duty officer for Charmouth and Hive Beach, said: "Fortunately, it appears it was a fairly minor incident. One of my colleagues had a look along the coastline and could not see anything of note.

"We would usually have received a report if it had been anything major or if the coastguard had been notified.

"We've not had any calls so I don't think it could be anything significant. If there is evidence of a small fall, people should keep well away from the cliffs."