An exploded World War Two weapon has washed up by Birnbeck Island.

Weston-super-Mare Coastguard was called by the Birnbeck Regeneration Trust on Friday to reports of a ‘potential piece of ordnance’.

The trust had been doing a routine survey when members came across it.

A coastguard spokesman said: “When we arrived on the scene, we just had enough time to cross the causeway to locate the object and take photos to send to the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal team before it was covered by the tide.

“The following day, we were tasked again to check the object was still there and to meet the bomb disposal team who were travelling up from Plymouth.

“When they arrived they inspected the object and confirmed it was an air-dropped weapon most likely from World War Two.”

It was confirmed there was no longer any explosive material left in the bomb as it had been previously detonated by the army bomb disposal team, possibly in the 1960s or 1970s.

The spokesman continued: “With the high tides and recent storms, old ordnance often gets washed up or uncovered on our beaches.

“This area saw a lot of action both in weapons testing and during World War Two, where Birnbeck would have been a prime target for German bombers.”