Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Harbour Seal

Phoca vitulina

Description:

Found hauled out at low tide on the Walton Backwaters. A true seal found along British coastlines. Each individual possessing a unique pattern of fine, dark spots.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

5 Comments

galewhale..Gale
galewhale..Gale 12 years ago

haha .... they look about the same size, maybe both harbor seals. It is really hard to get close... I have a 500mm lens for my study and it still isn't enough. Seals here (East coast U.S.) seem a lot shier than yours, at least from photos I see on flickr. Have you been to Bonny Nook? (I think that's its name... grey seal pupping beach)

moralcoral
moralcoral 12 years ago

we actually thought they were sheep from a distance as they were so high up!!

moralcoral
moralcoral 12 years ago

Yes the tidle range in this area is huge! i zoomed in to ID these but the quality of the photo was massivly reduced so didnt upload it, the white one is definatly a harbour seal with the flatter nose, however the greyer one looked like its nose was longer so possibly a grey (they are both found in this area) but the quality was too bad to ID it definatly, hopefully ill go back to get some better shots soon, here the mud was so deep this was the closest i could get and only had a 105mm lens, hopefully my 270mm will come soon!!

galewhale..Gale
galewhale..Gale 12 years ago

Way up there! The tides must be large!? I study Harbor seals in Maine and it is true you can recognize individuals by their unique patterns (though there are plain white ones that are hopeless to i.d.)

Elsa
Elsa 12 years ago

COOL! We need to go there when I come over!!

moralcoral
Spotted by
moralcoral

Tendring District (Essex), England, United Kingdom

Spotted on Nov 6, 2011
Submitted on Nov 6, 2011

Related Spottings

Harbor Seal Harbor Seal Harbor seal Harbour seal

Nearby Spottings

Rock pigeon Spotting Dark-bellied Brent Geese Bladder Wrack
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team