A family from Hadleigh had the rare experience of spotting a natural phenomenom over Brightlingsea beach in Essex.

The footage captured by the Horne family shows a rotating column of water and spray formed by a whirlwind over the sea - commonly known as a waterspout.

The natural phenomenon was captured on Naomi Horne's Iphone when she was out celebrating her mother's birthday at a beach hut in Brightlingsea.

The mother-of-two from Hadleigh spotted the waterspout at 3.43pm on Tuesday, May 28 and says it lasted around two minutes.

Her husband, two sons and both her parents were all in awe of the natural phenomenon as they watched from their beach hut.

Speaking of the waterspout, Naomi said: "We were really excited to see the formation as we have never seen anything like it before.

"It was a little unnerving watching it increase in length but we quickly realised it was going to dissipate."

Naomi said that it was raining before and shortly after the waterspout - but the skies were dry during the sensation.

Waterspouts fall into two categories - fair weather waterspouts and tornadic waterspouts.

The waterspout seen by the Horne family is classed as a fair weather waterspout, as it formed along the dark flat base of a line of developing cumulus clouds.

This type of waterspout is generally not associated with thunderstorms.

While tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water. They develop downwards, unlike fair weather waterspouts which develop upwards.

According to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service, some waterspouts can be just as dangerous as tornadoes and you should never to move closer to investigate a waterspout.