British inland seals

This video is called A Seal at RSPB Fen Drayton Lakes, Cambridgeshire. HD Video.

From Wildlife Extra:

Inland seals

Seals reported in Cambridgeshire and Worcester

January 2013. The extreme wet weather has had many effects on wildlife, none stranger than the inland seal phenomenon. The news that a seal has been spotted swimming around Fen Drayton Lakes in Cambridgeshire, some 50 miles from the sea, has made many headlines across the UK. It is believed the seal had swum up the Great Ouse River. The seal was spotted by a man who thought it was a dog struggling to escape floodwaters before he realised it was a seal.

Inland seals

However it isn’t a unique sighting. Seals are occasionally reported inland, usually in large rivers, but not always. Here are a few more inland seal sightings.

Just last November, a common seal was spotted swimming in the River Severn at Worcester, some 75 miles from the sea. The seal was spotted several times over the space of a few weeks.
A seal has been spotted several times at Fremington, in North Devon, some 8 miles from the sea.
One of the strangest inland seal sightings happened in 2006, near the village of Capernwray in Lancashire. Although only 5 miles from the sea, the male common seal pup was found on a small rural lane, not in any body of water.
Seals are occasionally seen in the Great Ouse, but not normally as far as inland as the seal above.
Seals are becoming more common in the Thames River in London, with one sighting as far up river as Richmond Lock.

Inland seal in Drenthe, the Netherlands: here.

Related articles

• Lost seal swims 50 miles inland to Cambridgeshire lake (itv.com)
• Confused seal spotted 50 miles inland after voyage through floods (metro.co.uk)
• UK weather sends British seal 50 miles inland – video (theweek.co.uk)
• VIDEO: Seal filmed swimming in flooded field (bbc.co.uk)
• Wettest English year sealed with a seal (guardian.co.uk)
• Seven Monk Seals in One Day! (leslienotes.typepad.com)
• X-ray shows seal has hook in stomach (bbc.co.uk)
• Threatened Exploris aquarium saves five baby seals (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
• Seals in the Khutzeymateen Inlet (christophermartinphotography.com)