A record-breaking endurance swimmer has revealed he only saw “a few fish” during his 49-day swim of the English Channel, with plastic plaguing every beach he saw from Land’s End to Dover.

Lewis Pugh yesterday completed his 560km (348 mile) swim from Land's End in Cornwall to Dover in Kent in a bid to raise awareness about the state of our oceans.

But on arriving at Shakespeare Beach on Wednesday afternoon the environmental campaigner and UN Patron of the Oceans revealed that during his mammoth swim he had encountered plastic on every beach he saw.

Mr Pugh was greeted on the beach by Environment Secretary Michael Gove who hailed the 48-year-old a “modern day hero” but Mr Pugh insisted that “now the real work actually begins” as he called on the secretary and other countries to protect their oceans.

On completing his swim he said: “I have also seen plastic on every beach from Land's End to Dover. We have taken the fish out of the ocean and replaced them with plastic.”