How many species of Pinniped (seals and allies) are there in North-East Scotland? A normal answer might be two. We’ve got the Grey Seals, that can be found all around our coast and haul out in their thousands at the Ythan estuary, and Common (or Harbour) seals that are present in smaller numbers but are nonetheless equally found right around the coast and with a well-known haul out a short way up the Riven Don in Aberdeen. However, the headline-grabbing appearance of a Walrus in recent days provides a reminder that a number of other species are on the regional list.
The Walrus himself, named Magnus when first seen in the UK in Orkney on 16 April (St Magnus Day), hauled out on a small jetty on the island of Stronsay and remained to the following day. He then delighted crowds of admirers when he pitched up on a pontoon in Lossiemouth harbour on 21 to 22 April, had a swim around Macduff harbour on 23rd and was reported swimming past New Aberdour, Fraserburgh, Inverallochy and finally St Fergus on 24 April. He then turned back and hauled out at Findochty harbour on 27 to 28 April and, most recently, Hopeman harbour on 30 April to 1 May.
Although exceptionally rare in the UK, this was not our region’s first Walrus; one seen at Collieston on 24 February 1954 was well documented and an account of this, along with a photograph, was published in the Scottish Naturalist, and can be accessed for free through the Biodiversity Heritage Library. A second Walrus hauled out at Crovie in August 1981 and was documented with a photograph in the Press and Journal. The record was unknown to the authors of the Mammal Atlas of North-East Scotland and the Cairngorms at the time of its publication, so it has not previously been listed in accounts of the region’s mammal fauna.
In addition to Walrus and our two resident species, no fewer than four other species of seal have been found in our area, with all having produced records since the 1990s. Recent and historical records of these species were summarised by Alan Knox in Mammals in North East Scotland 2021, with these summaries repeated below:
Hooded Seal
Status: Very Rare; two: juvenile female Aberdeen Beach, 28 August 2004; well-grown juvenile Balmedie, 28 October 2017. Both were taken into care but died. [The identification of one at Cruden Bay 8 January 1995 was unverified.]
Bearded Seal
Status: Very Rare; two: St Cyrus, 14 October 2011; Scotstown, St Fergus, 27 February 2012 (dead).
Harp Seal
Status: Very Rare; four: sub-adult Cruden Bay, August 1897; female caught in salmon net, Stonehaven, 7 March 1903; male caught in salmon net, Don mouth, 31 March 1903; Forvie 20 January 1994, taken into care and subsequently released.
Ringed Seal
Status: Very Rare; three, the first two caught in salmon nets, at Collieston in August 1897, and Aberdeen Bay in 1901. The third was in 2021, when a very underweight young male was found at Cove Bay in late August and taken into care at the SSPCA National Wildlife Rescue Centre.
Nick Littlewood
North East Scotland Mammal Network 