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

4 September—24 September

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2 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.

2 of 2 reports mapped · 2 areas

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Mapped areas North to south

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 2016

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

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

  1. Date:
    Reported: Unidentified HuffPost UK, 6 October 2016 — https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/thames-seal-spotted-london-river_uk_57f62556e4b0efc7e3c4c87a

    Observation: 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.

  2. Date:
    Place: Portreath beach Cornwall, England
    Reported: Unidentified Cornish Seal Sanctuary case archive — https://www.sealsanctuary.co.uk/html/seal201617css.html

    Observation: A five-day-old whitecoat male seal pup was rescued from the beach and taken for rehabilitation.