Watch the 'magical' moment a pod of 'about 10' dolphins were spotted swimming off the coast of Portsmouth

A pod of ‘about 10’ dolphins were spotted in the Solent, off the coast of Southsea, between 6.30pm and 6.45pm on Saturday.

Footage captured by mum-of-two Zoe Roxburgh shows the mammals breaching and breathing as they swim together.

The Emsworth property developer said the sighting was made at the end of a family day trip as she sailed home along the city's coastline.

‘We were on my cousin’s boat coming back from the Isle of Wight, I'd never been there before,' she said.

‘Someone said “oh look, there's something out there" and we could see it was dark.

‘When we knew they were dolphins we just switched the engines off and watched them.

‘It was a really magical end to a brilliant day.’

Appropriately, the dolphins popped up while Ocean Colour Scene played on Victorious Festival's main stage.

‘We joked and thought they might have been swimming to the shore to listen to some music,' Zoe said.

‘My two children were absolutely fascinated and when my son saw the first one he tried to call them.

‘As soon as he did that they all popped up, so he now thinks he’s some sort of dolphin whisperer.’

Despite being keen Solent sailors, it was the first time Zoe's relatives who own the 36ft motor boat have ever spotted dolphins on their travels.

The playful creatures have previously been seen in the Solent over the summer months, including sightings in 2015, 2017 and in June this year.