A New Quay lifeboatman was forced to swim to rocks to carry out a dramatic rescue of a dog which had plunged over cliffs near Llangrannog last night.

Relief inshore lifeboat John Wickens and the all-weather lifeboat Frank and Lena Clifford of Stourbridge had been launched after crews were paged at 8.23pm.

The inshore lifeboat was guided to the dog’s location by the New Quay Coastguard Rescue Team, who were already at the scene, with the all-weather lifeboat providing illumination.

“However, reaching the dog proved to be challenging,” said a spokesperson. “The coastguard team had sent one of their cliff technicians to assess the situation and decided that evacuation by sea was the only option."

Huw Williams, on his first shout as ILB helm, said: “The dog was on a small ledge at the base of the cliff.

“We veered down on the anchor but the large swell made it impossible to approach safely. The only option was to come in from the other side and put one of the crew in the water.”

Crew member Simon Rigby duly swam over to the rocks and tied a rope around the collar of the grey sheepdog, named Slate, so that he could be hauled to the ILB.

“Slate was very pleased to see us and was surprisingly calm after all he’d been through,” said Simon. “He was no bother at all.”

Slate was then transferred to the all-weather lifeboat where he was dried off and kept warm.

“He had a couple of biscuits and a nice sleep on the way back,” added Simon.

Slate was subsequently reunited with his grateful owners at New Quay lifeboat station.