A clever canine who has found around 30 unexploded wartime shells has come up trumps again.

Five-year-old black Labrador Barnes Wallis sniffed out the 25 pound high explosive shell while out walking with his owner, John Brewin, along Sandwich Bay on Saturday.

It was safely exploded by the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Team and Dover Coastguard, this morning.

Mr Brewin said: “He’s a dab hand at finding them. He must have found about 30 by now.

“When he was a puppy I took him down the beach to teach him to swim.

"I found one [a shell] and he smelt it and I think he learnt the smell.

“It’s in his nature now. He goes wandering off and then I see his tail wagging.”

Mr Brewin, whose pet is appropriately named after the scientist who invented the ‘bouncing bomb’ which destroyed German dams in the Second World War, says he makes a massive fuss of him afterwards, as a reward.

The Tilmanstone resident who works as a Coastguard Officer enjoys walking along the beach and searching for the shells.

He said: “I ring work and then they organise the bomb squad to dispose of it.

“Because of the tide, it had to be done today.

“Barney and I met them at 7.30am and they were gone by 10.30am.”

Mr Brewin is keen to inform others about what they should do if they come across an exploded shell.

He said: “I don’t move them, or touch them. They can be very dangerous. I just look at them and ring the Coastguard.”

He is urging members of the public to do the same.

“They should call the Coastguard or 999,” he said.

A Dover Coastguard spokesman said: “It was reported by a member of the public. Our Coastguard Rescue Team contacted the EOD from the Navy who carried out a controlled explosion this morning.”