Common and Atlantic Grey Seals

Common Seals feed at sea but regularly haul out on to rocky shores or inter-tidal sandbanks to rest, to give birth and to suckle their pups.

The most important haul-out areas are around the coast of Scotland, particularly in the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, and on the east coast of England in the Wash.

Grey Seals in the UK are found mainly around exposed rocky northern and western coasts. They also occur in the south west and off the east coast around the Farne Islands off Northumberland and Donna Nook in Lincolnshire.

Between the tides they haul themselves out on to rocks, usually on uninhabited offshore islands although some haul-outs are on secluded mainland beaches. Grey Seals are gregarious at these haul-outs and sometimes form large groups of several hundred animals, especially when they are moulting their fur in the spring.

About two-thirds of the Grey Seals' time is spent at sea where they hunt and feed. In the autumn Grey Seals congregate at traditional sites on land to breed.

Date: 1st June 2008

Location: Noss, Shetland