When you greet your partner or an old friend, you may give them a kiss…..unless you happen to be a seal, when you will smell their ears ! This was one of the strange and interesting facts that Coastwise members learned from Sue Sayer. Coastwise has a keen group of seal observers, and it seemed right and proper to invite Sue, of the Cornwall Seal Group (www.cornwallsealgroup.co.uk), to share the work that she and her group of enthusiasts have been doing on seal behaviour over the last 10 years or so.
The starting point for this is photo identification, and the group has built IDs of approx. 2000 seals using the fur spot patterns. It is then possible to build up behaviour and travel patterns from sightings at different locations, and we learned that regular trips between South Devon, Lands End and North Cornwall, Morte Point, Lundy and SW Wales are common.
Satellite tags have added to our knowledge of the extent and complexity of travel, feeding and breeding patterns, and also the astonishing depths to which even very young seals can dive – up to 120m has been recorded. There are two types of seal – common and grey – and we learned that there are an estimated 400K grey seals in the world, compared with 700K bottlenose dolphins, and who gets the most attention ?
Most people may see the occasional seal bobbing 
around in the sea, or basking on a rock, but if you know the right places and are prepared to be there at the right time, it’s possible to see up to 250 at one location. Although growing public awareness is important, seals, like people, do not like the wrong sort of attention, and disturbance and intrusive observation are threats to the colonies. Other dangers that Sue illustrated with disturbing photos are marine litter such as pieces of fishing net that cut or trap a seal, and cliff falls at the haulout sites.
(Photos courtesy of Dave Jenkins)