Falmouth RNLI were called out on Thursday to a report of a photographer trapped in river mud near Flushing, with water lapping at their knees.

The casualty was on a university project taking pictures of wading birds in the creek and got caught out by the soft pockets of mud and rising tide.

An RNLI spokesman said that at 8pm on Thursday Falmouth Coastguard requested the inshore lifeboat be launched to assist the mud rescue team in the recovery of a person from Gorrangorras Creek in the Penryn River.

The inshore lifeboat launched from the slipway at 8.06pm and headed up the river, arriving on scene at 8.12pm.

Specialist equipment had been used to remove the student photographer from the mud, but it was decided that the best way of evacuating the casualty was using the inshore lifeboat.

He was safely aboard by 8.35pm and the lifeboat headed back to the station.

The spokesman added: "The casualty had been exploring the river taking photographs when he became stuck in the soft mud.

"Initially the coastguard mud rescue team had been tasked to assist the casualty but on arrival they found that the water had already reached the casualty so they requested backup from the inshore lifeboat."

Lifeboat Crew: Jonathan Hackwell (Helmsman), Tom Bird, Josh Beardmore Location: Gorrangorras Creek, Penryn River Weather: WNW 7, Slight Sea and Swell, Good Visibility.

Falmouth Coastguard Rescue Team incident report:

Team paged to a report of a person stuck in the mud at Gorran Gorras Creek.

Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) kept the caller on the line until we arrived.

As we were getting the mud rescue equipment ready we found we had around a half mile to walk.

MRCC Falmouth reported that the tide had reached the casualty and was starting to rise up his legs.

Once down to the casualty two mud rescue technicians deployed and started to extricate the casualty using our specialist equipment.

By the time we’d finished the water had risen over the casualties knees.

We ‘pepper potted’ the casualty using the mud stretchers back to the shore and kept him warm until the arrival of the lifeboat (ILB) for transport back to the station for a warm up.

Ordinarily we’d have used a winch but due to the tidal conditions and distance from the shore, it was decided this was the best way back.

After assisting the ILB to shore we stood down to return to station.

After carrying all of the equipment back to the vehicle and RTB, cleaned down and ready for service by 9.25pm.