WATCHET coastguards are calling for warning signs to be put up after two young boys and their father got stuck in deep mud on Blue Anchor beach on Good Friday. Holidaymaker David Boorland, from East Sussex, said there was nothing to alert him to danger before he took his sons to explore the shoreline at low tide. "I read the sign on the way down but it mentioned swimming between two flags," he said. "As it wasn't swimming weather, I didn't think it applied so I didn't read the rest. "The set of steps that we came back up does not have a sign at all." Mr Boorland and the boys, Ben, aged eight, and six-year-old Harry, walked into a patch of mud and were unable to free themselves as it was about two feet deep. They then got the attention of the boys' mother and grandmother who alerted the coastguards. Mr Boorland said: "As we walked towards the water's edge, we crossed some soft sand but were fine walking along the beach next to where the waves were breaking. "We then cut back diagonally but sank up to the boys' knees and to the top of my wellies. "As I tried to move, my wellie came off and we couldn't get out." Although the family managed to free themselves, Watchet coastguards are now planning to ask the council to put a sign on the steps. Station officer Nick Tapp said: "The incident is a warning to people that there's soft mud down there. "The tide's ideal for this sort of thing at the moment. "The tide goes out during the day when people decide to go down and, as these people said themselves - it looks inviting to walk out to the tide's edge." The coastguards advise visitors to the beach not to venture out to the low water mark due to the patchy nature of the mud. They say it is impossible to tell where the mud will be.
