Recent counts and distribution of UK seals during August surveys

SMRU conduct, and collate data from, August surveys of seal haulout sites across the UK. Harbour seals moult in August in the UK, and a high and consistent proportion of the population is hauled out and available to survey. For grey seals, August represents a key foraging month and thus counts represent the haulout distribution during foraging season complementing estimates of pup production (number of pups born) from breeding season surveys. In August 2023, the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) carried out helicopter surveys using a thermal imager of a large proportion of the Scottish west coast of Scotland from Loch Hourn to the border representing a section of the West Scotland Seal Monitoring Unit (SMU) and the entire Southwest Scotland SMU. The results from this survey are reported here for the first time. In August 2024, the entire coast of Northern Ireland was surveyed by helicopter. Part of the Moray Firth SMU and the Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary SAC in East Scotland SMU are surveyed annually by fixed-wing aircraft. In England, the annual SMRU fixed-wing surveys cover the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coasts (Southeast England SMU). Various organisations around England and Wales continue to monitor seals at additional sites that can generally be covered by ground or boat-based methods. Results from August 2024 surveys will be reported in SCOS 2025. All the data presented in this briefing paper are from the latest surveys carried out until August 2023. Based on the most recent available August count data to 2023, the number of harbour seals counted in Scotland was 22,241, and in England it was 3,548. Including 818 harbour seals counted in Northern Ireland in 2021, the most recent UK harbour seal total count is 26,608. The number of grey seals counted in Scotland was 21,306, in England it was 17,075, and in Wales it was 1,313. Including 549 grey seals counted in Northern Ireland in 2021, the UK grey seal total count for this period was 40,243.