EAGLE-eyed travellers on Newport's Transporter Bridge yesterday saw the rare sight of a dolphin in the River Usk.

The mammal was spotted by workers on the Transporter Bridge at 1.30pm. Martin Newman, bridge superintendent, said: "My boss has told us about seeing dolphins here before but I never believed it.

"Now I have seen one with my own eyes." He said that this was the first time in 12 years of working on the bridge that he had seen anything like this.

"I couldn't believe it, I thought I was seeing things.You don't expect to see a dolphin in the River Usk in Newport.

"The dolphin's body was submerged, but you could see the nose poking out of the water."

He said that three years ago he had seen a sea lion in the River Usk after a heavy storm, "but never anything like a dolphin."

Mr Newman said the dolphin stayed in the area for two hours and then swam away when the tide changed. Jo Clark, from the Whales and Dolphins Conservation Society in Bristol, said: "It is not unheard of for a dolphin to swim in rivers but we would hope that it would swim back to the sea quickly.

"It could have been a bottlenose dolphin or it could also have been a harbour porpoise that was seen in that area."

l It is believed that the last sighting of a dolphin in the River Usk in Newport was more than 21 years ago on January 15, 1982.