The further travels of Twinkle the Seal

A seal spotted in Shoreham Harbour on 11th January, during the launch of the new life boat has now been confirmed to be Twinkle, the rescued seal that I reported on last November first seen in the Cuckmere River

 The orange tag on its hind flipper clearer identifies this seal as Twinkle.

The seal was rescued and named by the RSPCA on the 13th June 2010 from Lowestoft. It was successfully released into the Wash on 18th August.
I have been following the movement of this seal since November 2010 (see earlier blog entries) where it was first seen in the Cuckmere River. Since then it has been seen at the 7 sisters, Newhaven, River Ouse further upriver than Lewes and now the River Adur. Other seal sightings may also be this seal, but the tag can only be seen when the seal is on land.

We know the seal is finding food as it was reported eating a big fish. A photograph taken on a mobile phone by Debra clearly shows the seal feeding.

These are some of the photographs I have taken of the seal while it was in the River Adur

From the pictures below you can see that the seal is quite relaxed and appears to be fit and healthy

It would be good to hear from anyone who spots this seal as this has been a unique opportunity to follow the movements of a single seal around our coast and rivers.

Seal at Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve

A seal was seen off Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve (West Sussex) today at 4.00pm. I am not sure which species at present. A photograph of the seal "face on" suggests it might be a grey seal but this may just be the light.

A segment of video taken, too large to send as an attachment, so I hope when I receive this it will be clear as to which species it was. Unfortunately when I got the message at 4.00pm it was already getting dark and unfortunately it would have taken me an hour to get there by bus. So I did not get to see it myself.

Grey seal, Cuckmere River

I have received a seal sighting from Malin (who has provided seal sightings before). This seal was resting on the riverbank between the Golden Galleon Pub and Cuckmere Haven in the Seven Sisters area on New Year's Day.

Malin first saw the seal at around 1.30 pm when they started walking and the seal was still there around 3.30 pm when they returned.

The seal was a grey seal, identifiable by its lack of a forehead. This may well be the same seal that was reported in the nearby river Ouse on 30th December 2010, as grey seals are rarely sighted in Sussex.

Grey Seal in the River Ouse

I recieved a sighting of a seal (the observer said it looked like a grey seal) in the river Ouse near Southease, East Sussex ! The observer, Kirsty, was walking her dogs and the seal suddenly appeared in the water and watched them with interest before slowly floating away backwards (whilst still looking at us) downstream, then disappeared underwater.

Grey seals are not often observed in Sussex waters, so this is an interesting observation.

Seal sighting, Hove Beach

A common seal was hanging around just off the beach at Hove this morning, just opposite the Hove lagoon boating lake. The seal was slowly making its way eastwards towards Brighton.

Seal update

Update on the tagged common seal reported in my previous blog. The seal has been identified by its unique number tag on its flipper. It is a male yearling, which has been named Twinkle.
The seal was taken to the RSPCA on the 13/6/10 from Lowestoft where it was rescued, weighing 21 kg. It was successfully released into the Wash on 18/8/10 weighing 35 kg.

Common seal sighting River Cuckmere, East Sussex

I received a very interesting report of a common seal (from David Harris and Stewart Page) on the gravel/mud bank of the Cuckmere River, on the east side about half mile in from the sea. The time was about 4.20pm.

The seal was laying in a patch of sunlight, but the wind was cold, about 5 metres from the waters edge. It was clear from the photographs (taken by Stewart Page)  that this seal was not the common seal we see from time to time in the River Ouse. The seal appeared to be fit and healthy. It was holding a steady position with tail flippers together and slightly raised with those on its side flat. This is the usual resting position called the banana position because of its shape.

Of particular interest was the fact that the seal had a flipper tag and Stuart was able to get a clear photograph of the number.

I am currently in the process of tracking down the originators of the tag and hope to find out more about its history.

The seal moved its head around but it did not appear to be too anxious and made no attempt to make for the water, which is a seals first instinct if it feels threatened. Stuart and David observed the seal for about 15 minutes before moving on when their border terrier noticed the seal was there. Seals appear not to be disturbed by dogs at a safe distance, but David was worried that the dog would rush down towards the seal.