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

8 January—20 January

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3 of 764 reports

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Explore by area

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.

1 of 3 reports mapped · 1 area

N ↑Norfolk, England · 1 report1

Scroll the map sideways to explore the whole coast.

Mapped areas North to south

  1. Norfolk, 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. 22000
  2. 42001
  3. 12002
  4. 12003
  5. 32005
  6. 22006
  7. 52007
  8. 12008
  9. 32009
  10. 92010
  11. 132011
  12. 72012
  13. 152013
  14. 82014
  15. 82015
  16. 92016
  17. 282017
  18. 212018
  19. 142019
  20. 212020
  21. 182021
  22. 152022
  23. 362023
  24. 302024
  25. 2482025
  26. 2422026

Months in 2023

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

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

  1. Teddington Lock lifeboat station; later near Eel Pie Island Teddington and Twickenham, London, England
    Unidentified BBC News, 21 January 2023 — https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-64358168

    A grey seal emerged from the Thames and climbed onto a kayak mount outside the RNLI station at Teddington Lock. The BBC also reports that photographer Tobias Handschuh saw the seal near Eel Pie Island later that day and photographed it eating a fish; the accounts are kept together as one reported animal. Grey seal · 1 seal

  2. Outside the Mirage arcade, Hemsby Norfolk, England
    Unidentified The Independent, 21 January 2023

    rescue centre says photos arrived Friday night and responders found one grey seal pup outside the arcade. Grey seal · 1 seal

  3. River Nene at Orton Mere Lock Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England
    Unidentified BBC News, 11 January 2023 — https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-64237426

    Walker Jen Cowley filmed one seal bobbing about in the River Nene at Orton Mere Lock. Species not recorded · 1 seal