#56 Grey Seal by Matt Barnes
Meet Matt Barnes, co-founder of Yorkshire Seal Group!
Matt is an ardent supporter of all things relating to marine conservation and his underwater obsession began more than 20 years ago when he qualified as a SCUBA diving instructor on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Seeing first-hand the degradation of vulnerable marine habitats he pivoted into conservation roles with a variety of environmental and animal welfare NGOs around 15 years ago. These roles have included project management, wildlife guiding, ecology, educating, speaking and wildlife rehabilitation. Having served in the British Army in his younger years, Matt’s academic route was somewhat unconventional as he first attended University aged 27, initially studying Environmental Conservation at Oxford. At a postgraduate level he has since specialised in ecological survey techniques and finally a Masters in Anthrozoology focusing on anthropogenic seal disturbance in Yorkshire. Matt is a fervent advocate for seals and after working as a seal rehabilitator in Ireland and marine mammal medic in Yorkshire he went onto found the Yorkshire Seal Group Yorkshire Seal Group - Seals, Yorkshire (yorkshireseals.org) with his partner Niamh in 2018, now part of the wider UK Seal Alliance. Matt co manages a close-knit team of 40 seal stewards, researchers and educators on the Yorkshire coast to help protect our iconic seals, educate coastal visitors and promote a peaceful coexistence between the two. Yorkshire Seal Groups Facebook page can be found here.
Grey Seal resting on a rock, taken with a powerful zoom lens.
Matt’s chosen species is the Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus. The Grey Seal is a hugely popular, colourful, and characterful species calling our coastline home. The Grey Seal is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are more commonly referred to as "true seals", The Grey Seal is also the most encountered marine mammal along the East Riding and North Yorkshire coastline. Perhaps rather unflatteringly, in Latin, their name Halichoerus grypus translates as "hook-nosed sea pig" and this likely refers to the large bulbous muzzle exhibited by the male of the species. Grey Seals have an amazing and diverse array of colours and patterning, they typically range from blondes, greys and browns through to fully black melanistic individuals. The patterns of the animal’s pelts are unique and aid our team in identifying individuals that we either have welfare concerns about or for ecological studies during our research.
Matt has been privileged to be able to observe, study and rescue Grey Seals for a number of years now, the stark contrast between the fast-eroding clay cliffs and estuarine mud of East Riding to the dramatic rocky cliffs of North Yorkshire create different habitats with which they must contest on a daily basis. Grey seals are sizeable animals along the Yorkshire coast with males reaching an imposing and impressive 350kg and reaching around 2.75m in length. Whilst slightly smaller, females of the species still regularly achieve 250kg in weight and reach nearly 2m in length. They are easily distinguished from the Common/Harbour seal Phoca vitulina by looking at the shape of the head - Grey Seals have a larger, elongated doglike muzzle and parallel nostrils. They have 5 elongated claws on both their fore and rear flippers that aid them to haul out onto rocky outcrops which tend to be their favoured habitat along the county’s coastline. Grey Seals can have considerable spatial differences with some being identified and seen regularly and others more transient simply foraging as they pass through. Tagged seals on the Yorkshire coast have come from as close as the Tees estuary all the way to the Netherlands and Germany!
A group of resting seals, including one tagged individual who was rehabilitated at Tynemouth.
Grey Seals by nature are human averse, yet being semi-aquatic marine-mammals, they are intrinsically tied to our shores unlike other marine mammals such as cetaceans which are afforded far more freedom of movement. This necessity to access intertidal areas arises from biological requirements such as to rest and recuperate, to digest their food after time sent foraging at sea, to complete their annual moult and, perhaps most importantly, to pup. Once sexually mature, females can give birth to a single pup each year after an incredibly long total gestation period of 11.5 months. Grey Seals are among less than 2% of mammals that have an embryonic diapause, which causes a period of three and a half months when the fertilised embryo does not attach to the wall of the uterus. This results in pups typically being born within the same period each year, which in Yorkshire is the depths of freezing winter from November to February. Pups are born at around 1m in length and unlike the Common/Harbour Seal, are covered in a white fur from head to flipper called ‘Lanugo’. This coat does not have the same waterproof abilities as a typical pelt, so they are vulnerable on the shore whilst they moult this off over the next 21 days to reveal their permanent adult patterned coat.
A Grey Seal being attacked by an off-lead dog.
It is this period is a seal’s life cycle that led me to establish the Yorkshire Seal Group back in 2018. As a Marine Mammal Medic with the charity The British Divers Marine Life Rescue, I would respond to imperilled seals on the Yorkshire coast. Frustratingly, most of the injuries sustained by seals in the intertidal area were a result of negative interactions with people, such as lacerations to their undersides from fleeing at speed over rocky substrates from a perceived threat, which could be a drone, an uncontrolled dog or an over enthusiastic person encroaching to seek a picture. Such anthropogenic disturbance events could have far more serious consequences for un-weaned pups and their mothers.
The maternal period for Grey Seals in Yorkshire is extremely short at 17-21 days, during this period the mother will dramatically lose weight transferring one of the highest fat content milks (60%) in the animal kingdom to her pup leading it to grow from a birth weight of 12 kilos to a whopping 45 kilos. Sadly, cumulative disturbance events during the weaning period has led to underweight pups or maternal abandonment, resulting in Yorkshire having among the highest pre-weaned pup mortality rates in the UK. Seeking to address this, the Yorkshire Seal Group’s stewards aim to encourage more responsible wildlife watching and, along with partners in the Seal Alliance, produced a seal watching code later approved by DEFRA. Now by engaging and educating coastal visitors to the impacts their actions and by facilitating appropriate viewing distances and providing biological and behavioural information the situation, whilst not resolved, has dramatically improved.
As with all Yorkshire’s wildlife, learning to coexist is vital, increasing ocean literacy among Yorkshire’s younger generation is something I am passionate about since creating a curriculum linked education session several years ago. Now, our team have thankfully reached thousands of children across the region to educate, enthuse and empower them to protect and appreciate one of Yorkshires most charismatic species into the future.
Free curriculum-linked outreach by Yorkshire Seal Group volunteers.
Recording and monitoring
Stewards help to spot welfare cases for intervention - seal subsequently rescued.
If you spot a tagged seal you can report it to the Yorkshire Seal Group who can tell you more about its rehabilitation history here Grey Seals in Yorkshire - Yorkshire Seal Group (yorkshireseals.org).They are also after records of deceased seals in Yorkshire here Grey Seals in Yorkshire - Yorkshire Seal Group (yorkshireseals.org). If you would like to join their research and engagement team gathering data to help increase knowledge, protection and interpretation about seals then drop them a line. If you spot an imperilled seal or other marine mammal, you can report it to the BDMLR on 01825765546.
Further information and acknowledgements
NEYEDC would like to thank Matt for his time and expertise in helping to create this blog.