WILDLIFE experts in Ireland have been left baffled after a sub-Arctic bearded seal made a very rare appearance on Irish shores.
The seal was spotted in West Cork by Shearwater Wildlife Tours owner and operator Paul Connaughton on August 4 as he was travelling home in west Cork.
The bearded seal is usually a native of much colder Arctic waters north of Canada, Russia and Greenland and the Bering Sea.
The seal is usually associated with the drifting pack-ice where it breeds from late March to early May.
Full grown adults can reach up to 2.5metres in length and weigh up to 250 kilos.
The appearance of this bearded seal is just the second ever recorded in Ireland - the first was a female taken into care and rehabilitated in Co. Galway in 2002.
There are less than 20 recorded sightings in Britain from the Shetland and Orkney Islands off northern Scotland.
"I was passing the estuary in Timoleague when I spotted what appeared to be a seal hauled up on a bank above the high tide mark," said Paul Connaughton.
"I was immediately struck by the paleness of the animal and I did a quick u-turn and pulled in to get my binoculars and camera.
"At first glance I knew this was something different," he added. "I grabbed my telescope from the car and with a lot of fumbling I managed to erect the tripod."
Mr Connaughton then said he realised he was in fact looking at a bearded seal.
"With a fine old-fashioned moustache, a short neck and smallish square head compared to the size of the body with an overall solid creamy grey colour with no markings of any sort on the body, I was sure of my incredible find.
The seal appeared to have hauled itself onto the bank before swimming back down the estuary. (Picture: Shearater Wildlife Tours)"I rattled off a few photos from the DSLR then got out the digi-scoping camera and managed to get some fantastic record shots.
"The gravity of the find eluded me at first. I phoned some local friends and one managed to come and see the bearded seal just before it bumbled along into the water and swam away down the estuary causing quite a wave as it traveled through the shallow water."
Irish whale and Dolphin Group said that while the find was interesting and raised the question of how it came to be in Irish waters.
"An interesting and rare record of yet another Arctic vagrant," they said. "Although it's not a first for Ireland, it's one of only a small handful of sightings of this pinniped from Arctic and sub-Arctic regions.
"What's happening up there, that in recent years we have recorded belugas, bow head whales and now bearded seals?"
See the full post and follow Shearwater Wildlife Tours here...
I did not expect to find a mega rare Sea Mammal on the way home this evening! A Bearded Seal at Timoleague! Hurry if...
Posted by Shearwater Wildlife Tours on Friday, 4 August 2017
