Litter collectors were forced to do a double take when they scoured a Kent beach for rubbish.

For among the 63kg of discarded waste ending up on Shakespeare beach in Dover, was a water bottle - about 5,500 miles from home.

The water bottle from Jeju Island in South Korea ended up on the beach among items from all over the world drifting here on the tides.

The finding is by the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership after the beach was scoured and each item of litter was recorded and bagged.

The bottle was among kilos of rubbish filling 19 sacks, which cleared from the water’s edge at the end of September.

The task was part of the Marine Conservation Society’s (MSC) Great British Beach Clean.

Nearly 90 volunteers got involved including staff from the Port of Dover and Dover College.

The findings have been forwarded to MCS for analysis and will be added to national data to give a fuller picture of the extent of litter in British seas.

Paul Sampson,WCCP partnership ranger, said: “We are very grateful to all the volunteers who enabled us to give Shakespeare Beach a well deserved clean.

It also gives us an opportunity to find out exactly what type of litter is making its way by sea to this part of East Kent.

Vicki Jago corr, head of safety and environment at the Port of Dover, said: “Shakespeare Beach, like beaches all over the world, is vulnerable to marine litter.

"The Great British Beach Clean is successfully getting the community together to take action and enables learning about worldwide problems of marine litter.”

The next Great British Beach Clean will run from Friday, September 14 to Monday, September 17, 2018.

The WCCP was set up in 1989 to help care for the coast and countryside in Dover and Shepway. There are at present nine members of staff supported by around 300 lvolunteers.

It organises nearly 400 volunteer tasks and nearly 300 guided walks and Green Gang family events a year.

For more information view the website whitecliffscountryside.org.uk