Action Plan: Grey Seal

Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are the largest native carnivorous mammal of the British Isles. About two-thirds of greys seals' time is spent at sea where they hunt and feed. Sand eels and cod are their most important foods, but grey seals are opportunistic feeders and probably take whatever fish are most abundant. In the autumn grey seals congregate at traditional sites on land to breed. The timing of births varies around the coast, beginning in September in West Wales, in October in western Scotland, and as late as November in the Farne Islands.

Grey seals were the first mammals to be protected by modern legislation - the Grey Seals Protection Act of 1914. Today the protection of the grey seal is of international importance, protected under the EC Habitats Directive and Berne Convention. The number of grey seals in the UK amounts to approximately half of the world population, with numbers having doubled since the 1960’s to over 80,000 animals.