Royal Navy helicopters will once again become a regular sight around the harbour at Falmouth.

The aircraft from Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose are reusing a landing pad which was once used for search and rescue operations.

Now, instead of the old Sea Kings, the helipad will be used by Culdrose’s new, grey Merlin helicopters.

The squadrons at Culdrose said they intend to use the site around once a week.

The pad is a small concrete area within the docks run by company A&P.

It is immediately next to the sea and makes an excellent place to practise landings in a confined space.

For around 20 years it was used by the search and rescue helicopters of 771 Naval Air Squadron for training and as a handy bolt-hole in atrocious weather.

However, when search and rescue responsibility passed to the coastguard three years ago, the site at Falmouth was left unused and quickly became overgrown with weeds.

The site was cleared recently by personnel from Culdrose alongside an Army team from 165 Royal Logistics Corps.