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.

Roosting starlings at the Brighton Marina

I have seen the starlings roost underneath the Brighton Pier but I have not seen so many on the Brighton Marina before. It was a windy evening and a small flock of starlings turned in to a noisy swirling flock.

 They spiraled down and disappeared beneath the restaurants standing on piles above the water.

Seals at Beachy Head

Yesterday evening I received another seal sighting, this time at falling sands just to the east of Beachy head lighthouse. Two seals were observed by Jack Harris (and his Father) on Sunday 17th October in the morning. On his return  late afternoon one of the seals was still there

Jack took this picture using his mobile phone which clearly shows a dog-shaped head which would indicate a common seal.

A seal, probably the same animal, was also there on Monday 18th October morning and Monday evening.

Seal call out

I was called to a possible injured seal this evening at Saltdean beach (opposite the Lido). Unfortunately the traffic was bad and it was getting dark by the time we got there. It was light enough to see that the seal was not on the pebble beach, or in the water as there was good illumination from moon light. It was difficult to tell
for sure if it was on the rock breakwater or not.

Hopefully this was a healthy seal, which the observer thought was in trouble because seals are not common locally and people are often not used to seeing a seal hauled out. I also encouraged the observer to call British Divers Marine Life Rescue but they arrived just before me and could not find the seal either

We will keep an eye out tomorrow to see if it is still around. It may be the seal that we occasionally see up the nearby River Ouse.