A curious fellow

During the course of a successful late afternoon dash to Cuckoo's Corner on the River Adur, West Sussex to see the tundra bean goose (Anser fabilis) my attention was drawn to some wide ripples mid flow, the cause of which turned out to be a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina).

The seal's curiousity matched our own, and as we moved closer to the bank side, to capture some photos - it proceeded to climb out of the water to check us out for the briefest of moments.

Langstone Harbour, Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina L.)

Photographs taken from approx 350m away. So no apologies for the unashamedly poor quality of these record shots.

locally sourced Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina L.)

After a recent tip-off I finally caught up with my first (two) Hampshire, harbour seals, hauled out on the mudflats about 500m from a local landmark restaurant. Great stuff.

Grey coloured seals on a grey mud with a cold grey sea in front and a cold grey sky above - not the ideal photo-opportunity - so I look forward to better views in better weather before catching that all important "out of focus" shot for the BLOG.

Rousay, Orkney - seal sp. dilemmas

When I see a seal head bobbing about offshore in UK waters, I generally feel confident in calling the species; after all there are only two seal species found around the coast of Britain aren't there: the grey seal Halichoerus grypus and the common seal Phoco vitulina?

The fact that the grey seal has a distinct "Roman nose" profile and "W" shaped nostrils as opposed to the common seal which has a more rounded head, shorter muzzle and "V" shaped nostrils - should enable reasonable ID certainty in good visibility, shouldn't it?

The seal above, seen swimming offshore of Rousay is obviously a grey seal - the "Roman nose" profile an easily observed and prominent feature.
However, my confidence at ID is instantly undermined when a group of seals are hauled out on distant skerries, basking in the relative warmth of the overcast afternoon sun such as these beasts photographed at Savieskaill Bay, Rousay (photo left).

After all the colour variation appears somewhat wider than the palette described in my crib book - Butler J. Levin A., 1999 2nd Edition. Was it a whale? A handy guide to the marine mammals of the Hebrides. Isle of Mull. Brown and Whittaker.

The seal to the right of the picture shows what appears to be a fairly obvious "Roman profile" whilst the head position of the whiter individual to the left, seems more rounded? And just exactly how are those nostrils set - is that a "V" or a "W"? With the wind blowing both the 'scope and camera the subsequent shake blurs the finer detail. They simply are grey seals aren't they?