seal.watch / uk

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.

Meet the grey seal → · Meet the harbour seal →

Total reports
764
Latest observation

Public reports · newest first

Public records archive

21 January—24 September

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2 of 764 reports

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Explore by area

All areas

Markers represent named areas, never exact sighting positions. Circle size reflects report counts; numbers match the area list. Select an area to filter the archive.

4 of 9 reports mapped · 3 areas

N ↑County Down, Northern Ireland · 1 report1London · 2 reports2Cornwall, England · 1 report3

Scroll the map sideways to explore the whole coast.

Mapped areas North to south

  1. County Down, Northern Ireland1 report
  2. London2 reports
  3. Cornwall, England1 report

Areas without one map point

Broad country and coast labels, and places without a reviewed reference, remain filterable here.

Map: Natural Earth.

Reports over time

All dates

Select a year, then a month. Counts describe published reports; one animal may appear in several reports.

  1. 12010
  2. 22013
  3. 12015
  4. 22016
  5. 12018
  6. 22019
  7. 62021
  8. 42022
  9. 22024
  10. 42025
  11. 2342026

Months in 2016

  1. 1Jan
  2. 0Feb
  3. 0Mar
  4. 0Apr
  5. 0May
  6. 0Jun
  7. 0Jul
  8. 0Aug
  9. 1Sep
  10. 0Oct
  11. 0Nov
  12. 0Dec

Grouped by each record’s archive date. Approximate dates keep their original labels in the records below.

  1. River Thames bank, Greenwich London
    Unidentified HuffPost UK, 6 October 2016 — https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/thames-seal-spotted-london-river_uk_57f62556e4b0efc7e3c4c87a

    Paul Wyatt's post, embedded by HuffPost, says he walked past a seal on the Thames bank in Greenwich on 24 September. Species is not identified. Other October sightings in the article are not combined with this encounter. Species not recorded · 1 seal

  2. Near South Quay DLR station London
    Unidentified ZSL Thames Marine Mammal Survey public sightings map — https://sites.zsl.org/inthethames/main/ (reported by Rosy)

    Observer description: The observer thought it seemed like a young grey seal. It bobbed up and down in the water by South Quay DLR, then dived and disappeared.