Helford VMCA Seal Talk

The Private Life of Cornish Seals was the subject of the Helford Voluntary Marine Conservation Group’s last meeting. Sue Sayer, a member of the Cornwall Seal Group gave the talk on the 17th October in Gweek village hall. Using a variety photographs, video clips and drawings Sue explained the work of the Cornwall Seal Group. The talk started with an introduction to the Seal group’s main focus of studying the habits and tracking of the Grey seal.

It was a surprise to many to find out that the Grey seal is one of the rarest seal species in the world. 45% of all known Grey seals live around the coastline of the UK. Grey seals are the UK’s largest land breeding wild mammals weighing around 230kg and averaging 2.3m in length and live up to 30 years in the wild. Mostly populating Scotland, the Grey seals that live around the Cornish coast are a Celtic sub population and are genetically different to those from Scotland.

Helford Voluntary Marine Conservation Area Group Talk on the 'Private Lives of Cornwall's Grey Seals' (Below)

Studies by the Cornwall Seal Group on local colonies have enabled the compilation of a database containing 700 individuals living around the Cornish coast. The database identifies each seal from their unique fur pattern of spots, blotches and irregular shapes. Along with the creation of a database, the Cornwall Seal Group works closely with the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group and the National Seal Sanctuary to locate, rescue and rehabilitate animals in distress. Animals may require intervention when they become tangled in nets, oiling, injury or if pups are found abandoned and in need of human intervention.

If you would like to help the Cornish seal population there are things everyone can do! Resist feeding wild seals or disturbing them in any way, collect any nets from beaches you may come across and take your litter home. Should you find an injured seal then call the National Seal Sanctuary on 01326 221361 or British Divers Marine Life Rescue on 01825 765546 (24 hours).

The Helford Voluntary Marine Conservation group would like to say a thank you to Sue Sayer of the Cornwall Seal Group for her fascinating and enjoyable talk.

The Helford Voluntary Marine Conservation Group’s next meeting is ‘Diving Bahamas and Helford’ to be held on the 14th of November at Mawgan Recreation Hall, TR12 6AX at 7.30p.m. Entry is just £2 for non members and free to members. Everyone is welcome. For more information visit www.helfordmarineconservation.co.uk

Report written by Jenna Gendall, Helford VMCA Group

Cornwall Seal Group are extremely grateful to all their members who volunteer hundreds of hours of their time to watch over the seals around the Cornish coast, especially at pup time! If you would like to support the work of Cornwall Seal Group, you can email sue@cornwallsealgroup.co.uk , to arrange to send a cheque or a contribution via paypal.