Two wild deer race across a deserted beach in a series of stunning "Chariots of Fire" style pictures.

Mark George, who lives in Malvern, was walking his dogs on Cheswick Sands beach in Northumberland when he spotted the animals dashing across the sand.

The dad-of-two grabbed his camera and snapped the animals as they sprinted past him on Thursday evening (May 6) .

The amazing pictures show the deer bounding across the beach with the ruins of Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island in the distance.

Mr George, 60, said: “I was walking through the dunes at around 6.30pm and could hear a faint thudding.

“It was in the distance and at first I thought it was either a horse or maybe a couple of greyhounds or whippets running towards me.

“There was not a soul on the beach and they were really going fast.

“As they came closer I realised they were a couple of deer which appeared to be racing. It reminded me of the opening scene of Chariots of Fire.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before, I usually see them in cover like woods and not in an open space like the beach.

“Luckily I’ve always got my camera on me, a Nikon D850, even though I was just planning to take landscape photos.

“As I came up from the dunes it seemed something had made them stop.

“Then I think they saw me and started running from left to right until you can see Holy Island and Lindisfarne in the last photo.

“It was over in seconds before they disappeared back into the dunes.

“It happened pretty quickly so I was chuffed I managed to take these photos.

“I was surprised to see them to start with then pretty gobsmacked.

“It’s not something I’ve ever seen or heard of before.

“After I posted the pictures on a Facebook page and got 2,000 hits, some people said they had seen footprints on the beach but not the deer themselves.

“I think they are the best nature photos I’ve ever taken.

“It’s probably a once in a lifetime opportunity I’ll never have again.

“It’s the fact that they are in an open space on that beautiful beach in front of Holy Island that makes it so special."