The police drone, coastguards and a volunteer lifeboat crew were all scrambled yesterday morning after concerns were raised over an unidentified object in the sea.

Member of St Agnes RNLI set off to investigate not long after 10.30am, following a call about the unknown black object in the water around the Bawden Rocks area.

St Agnes Coastguard Search and Rescue Team were also paged, to St Agnes Head, to help identify what appearing to be floating towards the coastline, and the police drone was sent up from the top of the cliff, for an aerial view.

With Gavin Forehead at the helm of the inshore lifeboat, accompanied by crew members Richard Draisey and Tom Forehead, a search was carried out of the water.

However, it was eventually concluded that the object was no longer in the area.

A theory has now been offered about what the object could have been - and it is hoped experts will come forward to confirm it.

An RNLI spokesperson said: "Given the information available, it seems likely that the object was a whale.

"While we cannot confirm the sighting at this stage we would welcome expert analysis of the picture."