Hundreds of tonnes of timber are being washed ashore along the Kent coastline after 1,500 tonnes fell off a cargo ship in rough seas in the English Channel on Monday.

Packs of wood, smashed timber and debris were spotted off the coast and on the foreshore at Pegwell Bay and Ramsgate, although it had been expected that they would wash up.

Coastguard Kelvin Godfrey said: "We had been expecting the wood to bypass our coast and end up around Dungeness.

"But the heavy seas, high tide and a strong southerly wind has swept it onto Pegwell Bay, Ramsgate harbour and possibly at Dumpton Gap.

"There is quite a lot of wood coming ashore and heading our way - possibly hundreds of tonnes at a guess - and action is being taken to safeguard the beaches."

A Russian-registered freighter shed some of its load on Monday morning soon after 8am in the Channel off Newhaven, Sussex.

The coastguard originally estimated that the floating debris would wash up at Dungeness on Wednesday morning.

The Sinegorsk lost 1,500 tonnes of timber in rough seas as it headed from Sweden to Alexandria, in Egypt.

It is heading to Portsmouth for repairs under escort.

Exactly a year ago many planks turned up on beaches near Folkestone after the The Ice Prince’s cargo shifted in heavy seas, sending it to the bottom off Portland Bill.

Curiously, it had also been heading for Egypt when it came a cropper.