United Kingdom · 2000—2026
Grey and harbour seals
Seals around the United Kingdom.
Follow public seal observations from the United Kingdom. Browse published records, explore the places and stories behind them, or share an encounter with the Seal Watch team.
- Total reports
- 764
- Latest observation
Public reports · newest first
Public records archive
3 September—30 October
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Explore by area
All areasMarkers represent named areas, never exact sighting positions. Circle size reflects report counts; numbers match the area list. Select an area to filter the archive.
6 of 248 reports mapped · 3 areas
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Mapped areas North to south
Areas without one map point
Broad country and coast labels, and places without a reviewed reference, remain filterable here.
- South West England178 reports
- South West England and Wales23 reports
- Dorset16 reports
- Cornwall6 reports
- Surrey4 reports
- Cardiff, Wales3 reports
- Devon, England2 reports
- Thames, London2 reports
- Aberdeen City, Scotland1 report
- Brighton and Hove, England1 report
- Cambridgeshire1 report
- Cheshire1 report
- Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland1 report
- Orkney, Scotland1 report
- Surrey, England1 report
- United Kingdom1 report
Map: Natural Earth.
Reports over time
All datesSelect a year, then a month. Counts describe published reports; one animal may appear in several reports.
Months in 2025
Grouped by each record’s archive date. Approximate dates keep their original labels in the records below.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified Earthstar, “G is for Grey seal” — https://earthstar.blog/2025/12/12/g-is-for-grey-seal/
Observation: Author's photograph of a seal by the Cardiff Bay Barrage; a later post suggests it may be the same animal seen on other visits, based on head markings, but does not confirm an individual identity.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified Earthstar, “G is for Grey seal” — https://earthstar.blog/2025/12/12/g-is-for-grey-seal/
Observation: Author's photograph of a seal by the Cardiff Bay Barrage; a later post suggests it may be the same animal seen on other visits, based on head markings, but does not confirm an individual identity.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified Earthstar, “Finally, a Grey seal” — https://earthstar.blog/2025/09/06/finally-a-grey-seal/
Observation: Author reports the first seal they had seen locally, near the Cardiff Bay Barrage sluice gates. The post says this was on the Wednesday before publication (6 September 2025), i.e. 3 September. The author identifies it as a grey seal; this is source-attributed, not independently confirmed.