Selsey's Seals

To tell the difference between the Common and Grey Seal, look at the eyes and nose. A Grey Seal has a longer muzzle with the eyes set further apart while a Common Seal has a more concave and short head. Grey Seals are also larger, and their pups are born with a white coat whereas a Common Seal’s pup will already be brown and able to swim.

If you are lucky enough to see one of these beautiful mammals, either in the water or on land, please keep your distance, at least 100m, and ensure that dogs are on their leads and not allowed to approach. Never get between a mother and a pup.

Grey Seal pups are born between September and December, large colonies breeding together. The pups are covered in fluffy white coats and will remain on land, being fed by the mother, drinking two and a half litres of her rich milk every day.

The mother seal will lose a significant amount of weight during this process while the pup can grow by as much as 30kg in two weeks. After several weeks of this tender care, the females head back out to sea, leaving the pups alone on the beach to shed their white coat and build up the courage to take the plunge and learn to catch fish for themselves. Once the pup coat is shed, adult Grey Seals have different patterns of fur for males and females, the males being darker and of a more solid colour while the females have a steely gray back and a mottled, creamy colour belly. This fur pattern is unique to each seal, will be kept throughout their whole life and can be used to recognise individuals.

When on land, they Common Seals can often be seen holding themselves like a banana with both the head and tail in the air at the same time.

Like the Grey Seal, Common Seals feed on fish but they will also eat squid, whelks, crabs and mussels, happily swimming up estuaries or into large steams in pursuit of a good source of food.