Friends of the Fowey Estuary Seal Pupping talk 8.10.13

We were treated to an amazing talk about seal pupping by Sue Sayer of the Cornwall Seal Group, the timing of the talk was particularly pertinent as October is the peak time for seal pupping.

It was really interesting to find out about the life of a grey seal from the huge distances covered by individuals to the duelling males, fighting to be ‘beachmasters’ with a harem of females on a beach.

Then we saw the pictures of the cute baby seals, these so-called, white coated pups, are skinny and relatively helpless at birth, but grow rapidly, sustained by the rich milk of their mothers. Pups are suckled for between 17 and 21 days, after which time the mother leaves her pup to fend for itself.

Each seal has its own unique pattern on its coat and using this and other marks and scars the individual seals can be identified. Sue has a database of over 600 different seals and each have a name, many are named after their markings like ‘zig zag’ and ‘W’ but others just for fun like ‘Wotsit’ and ‘Duchess’.

The most important point to take away from the evening was that we should report all sightings of seals around our coast to add to the database. Ideally you should note date, time, where you saw the seal and include any photos.

Send seal sightings information to:

sue@cornwallsealgroup.co.uk