Island sealed off after bomb find

The mine will be detonated on Friday

A mile-wide exclusion zone has been set up round a WWII German mine that has washed up on a Somerset beach.

A Royal Navy bomb disposal team was called to Stert Island in Bridgwater Bay after a fisherman spotted the device on Thursday.

The 10ft (3m) long mine, which would have been dropped by a plane to disrupt shipping lanes, contains 700kg of explosives.

The bomb disposal team said it would be detonated later on Friday.

'Catastrophic'

Police have reassured residents there is no threat to them or Hinkley Point power station, some seven miles away.

Most of the mine is buried under sand.

Royal Navy clearance diver, Petty Officer Keith Satchwell, said: "I'd say two thirds of it are high explosives, so catastrophic, the damage it could cause if it went off."

Burnham-on-Sea Coastguards called out two rescue hovercraft, The Spirit Of Lelaina and Light Of Elizabeth, which took members of the Navy Explosives team out to the scene.

Station officer Steve Bird added: "The bomb is partially covered in mud and can only be accessed at low tide so using the hovercrafts is essential."

The mine is in the Bridgwater Bay Nature Reserve, and has only recently become visible with shifting sands and mud.

'Incredibly lucky'

Bridgwater Bay is home to around 190 species of birds and several sites of historical interest, including 12th Century fish weirs.

Dr Helen Phillips, chief executive of Natural England, said: "The mudflats, sandbanks and salt marshes are nationally and internationally important feeding grounds and roosting sites for wintering waterfowl and waders- including shelduck, curlew, oystercatcher and redshank.

"We feel incredibly lucky the situation did not occur any earlier in the year as these species have only just left for their summer breeding ground - the circumstances could have been far more serious.

"The fossil beds and the submerged forest, which are protected within the National Nature Reserve are fortunately all out of range."