By ’eck, that’s no sheep ... seal washes up in the Yorkshire Dales 50 miles from the sea
‘Chasing salmon inland’
VISITORS to the Yorkshire Dales normally expect to see rolling fields full of docile sheep.
So you can imagine the surprise of a group of walkers when they were confronted by this woolly- headed interloper.
The fully-grown bull seal was spotted relaxing in a field – some 50 miles from the nearest coast.
Discovered at Topcliffe Weir near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, it is believed to have followed fish from the North Sea inland along the River Swale.
Its picture was taken by amateur photographer Karen Hargreave, from nearby village Asenby.
She said: ‘Some friends of ours went for a walk, and saw something large in the river. On closer inspection they realised it was a seal and as I am interested in wildlife they messaged me.
‘Apparently the seal had turned up last Thursday morning.
‘Locals from the mill spoke to various experts – some I think may have visited the site – and confirmed it was a large healthy male.
‘He had probably swam up from the Humber estuary following salmon.
‘My husband and I decided to try our luck on Friday morning, and sure enough he was still there, out on the bank. He was an amazing sight.’
The seal was also spotted by walker Tony Wilson, 48, who said: ‘It looked so bizarre. At first I thought it was a sheep but as I got closer I saw he was a great big grey seal.
‘I couldn’t figure out how he’d arrived there but speaking to people in the village later it seems he’d swam all the way from the sea up the river.’
Rather than being moved by rescuers, the seal is being left to make its own way back to sea.
Ana Cowie, of the Living Seas Centre in Flamborough, on the East Yorkshire coast, said it was not uncommon for seals to travel along rivers chasing fish.
‘It is pretty regular, they just chase the food source and you often find them inland. We don’t have statistics or numbers but it is fairly common,’ she said. ‘If they don’t seem distressed or stranded we would urge people to just leave them, don’t approach them and keep dogs away as they are a wild animal after all. They can usually be there for a few days before finding their way back, but they spend a lot of their lives on land so they are usually fine.’