Incidental seal count request

[Ian Bond]

As some of you may know, INCA co-ordinates a seal monitoring programme each summer on Seal Sands and Greatham Creek, running over each daylight low tide from mid June to mid Sept.  (The report of the 2016 monitoring has just gone on our website at http://www.inca.uk.com/2016/10/summary-of-seal-season-2016/  Headline figure is that there are now at least 200 seals in the estuary at times)   However outside of that there is very little data on what seal numbers are like for the rest of the year or at other states of the tide.  A few TBC members have kindly passed on seal counts that they have undertaken at other times and these have been summarised in this year?s report.  I would like to try and add to the amount of data that we have on this for the 2016/17 season.  If any of you are birding at either Greatham Creek or from the Power Station Field (looking at the peninsula on the other side of Seaton Channel, beneath the green hut, where the Grey Seals haul out) and can count the seals while you are there I would be very grateful for your records (zero counts are equally valuable).   If you can separate them into Greys and Harbours so much the better but otherwise just the total no of seals is still fine, plus the date and the time.   If you are able to do a count could you e-mail it to me ian.bond@inca.uk.com please and I will include it in next year?s report with an acknowledgement.