River Witham last night

[Purple Fairie]

Smudge had a walk down by Kirkstead bridge last night at about 6ish.

He called me all excited saying 'Guess what I'm watching?'

'Don't know' says I

'Go on, guess'

He finally told me when I threatened him with no food....

 

A SEAL!!!

 

He has took a couple of piccies on his mobile but they are reminiscent of the Loch Ness Monster photos!

 

We have heard of this before, but never seen any before.

 

He's dead chuffed now, but if he doesn't shut up soon he's just going to be dead!

[Supermalc]

Chatted to a fisherman who had been to Bardney, but no fish because of a seal. There are at least 2 I'm told. There was one last year in the old Witham to the Trywhitt for some months.

 

Bet you can walk over the river at topside of Bardney Lock It was 1/2inch thick there when only half the lock was frozen. Yesterday afternoon still ice on Witham here, only no flow at the minute.

[Howard]

We get seals at Tedders a couple of times each year .... there is a picture of one on the upstream!! side of the lock on the website ....

[Keeping Up]

There's a very friendly seal at Earith on the Great Ouse. During the summer she climbs up on to the pontoons in the marina to sunbathe.

[Hairy-Neil]

We get seals at Tedders a couple of times each year .... there is a picture of one on the upstream!! side of the lock on the website ....

 

Howard, Would that have been penned through or gone over the weir on a spring tide?

 

BTW, I remember watching one of the Thames lock keepers (Sunbury rings bells) pen a swan through to separate teritorial squabbling.

[Supermalc]

I wonder if seals are coming up the Witham because there are no fish in the Wash - well I should know, I've been sea fishing twice, and all I've caught so far is sea-sickness

 

Joking apart, I was talking to the fisherman about my mooring last Sunday and he said there wan't any fish, as such in the wash, whereas I know the Witham is teaming with fish. There were thousands and thousands of babies around the boats in the spring, and the river has never had so much weed i.e. food before, as far as I can tell from chatting to others.

[Howard]

Howard, Would that have been penned through or gone over the weir on a spring tide?

 

BTW, I remember watching one of the Thames lock keepers (Sunbury rings bells) pen a swan through to separate teritorial squabbling.

 

 

Hi Neil, thats the question we were asking ourselves ..... the tides weren't particularly large at the time so it's very possible he has locked through ....

 

Its quite common to lock swans through , when they are breeding the territorial pair will chase others down the cut and corral them at the lock gates where they then attack them (sometimes until death) .... if we are there we will try and seperate the 'victim' and the 'attackers' usually with a boat hook and then put the victim into the lock and lock him down or up....

 

Only last week i came in for a morning shift to find a swan that had been drowned by our resident pair at the lock gates (presumably it happened overnight) the pair that inhabit the upper lock cut do seem to be unnaturally aggressive ..... you can tell when one has been drowned by another due to the damage to the feathers on the back of the dead swans head ...... the other swan gets hold of it by the back of the head and holds it underwater until it drowns ..... very sad ....

 

On a lighter note, when i was a relief lock keeper , i was doing a stint at Boveney Lock , and i came across a swan that had been badly beaten up by the resident pair. It seemed to be near death so i put it in the shed on a blanket and called Swan Rescue at Egham. Meanwhile a school visit arrived and i'm giving them the tour of the lock and i say to the kids 'I've just rescued a swan , it's not in a very good way , i've just got to check on it , would anyone like to come and see ?'

 

Naturally all the kids want to , so i tell them they must be very quiet so as not to disturb it and they can have a look , so with about 20 kids , i open the door to check on the swan . In the half hour or so that it has been in the nice warm shed it has very much come back to life and is not happy with being in the shed .....

 

Out it comes like bat out of hell , the kids part like the red sea and the swan half runs half flies back into the river , giving me a very disapproving look as it swam off ......

 

 

I was talking to some of the guys at the Barrier the other day , and there is a seal that lives permanently near Canary Wharf , the fishmongers from Billingsgate feed it every day with left overs , the RSPCA has asked them to not feed it so much because its getting fat .....

Edited February 9, 2007 by Howard

[colin1325]

gonna have to shoot the devils or there be no fish in the rivers either

[Big Steve]

It's not the seals eating all the fish, the poor bu**ers have come up stream looking for food because the Danes/French/Spanish have hoovered just about every last morsal out of the North Sea, if not for food, for pig feed and to make margarine.

[Supermalc]

Not quite - I have heard a little while ago, one of the fishermen netted fish, and put them back just to see.....he caught 4 TONS.

 

There are still plenty of fish in the Wash. Just that they are a bit elusive (or not hungry) some days........

 

Anyway, as this Seal was seen in Februry it will have died by now, unless it swam back, because apparently they go blind if living in fresh water too long.

Edited October 16, 2007 by Supermalc

[Big Steve]

Anyway, as this Seal was seen in Februry it will have died by now, unless it swam back, because apparently they go blind if living in fresh water too long.

 

 

Where did you get that gem from? I've scoured google and the're are no comments about seals going blind in fresh water, if it's true I'd like to know, please.

Apparently they've been known to live in Loch Ness for months, until someone shot them.

[Tinally]

I don't think there's a lack of fish in the North Sea. If you go up the coast a bit to the Donna Nook Air Weapons Range you'll find thousands of seals so there must be food nearby. The one in the Witham was probably looking for a bit of peace and quiet!! I forget how many pups we had last year......several hundred....worth a day out in November/December to see them. They come right up the beach to the car park to give birth...you can watch from just a few feet away!

 

Once upon a time we used to try and discourage visitors when they were breeding, but it's now reached the status of a three ring circus!! I suppose if they don't mind the rockets, bombs and machine guns, they won't mind you leaning over the fence and watching as they push another one out! Avoid the weekends.....road access is difficult as the local roads clog with thousands of bunny huggers decending on the beach.

 

http://www.renew.freeuk.com/newholl/seals.html

 

Dick

[Supermalc]

Where did you get that gem from? I've scoured google and the're are no comments about seals going blind in fresh water, if it's true I'd like to know, please.

Apparently they've been known to live in Loch Ness for months, until someone shot them.

 

I was told of it by someone when we were watching the one in the Old Witham at Bardney Lock. Asking others about it, apparently they need salt to clear their eyes. Not blind exactly, more likely blurred vision (and as I'm 60 on the 20th of November, I know all about that now )

[Purple Fairie]

I was told of it by someone when we were watching the one in the Old Witham at Bardney Lock. Asking others about it, apparently they need salt to clear their eyes. Not blind exactly, more likely blurred vision (and as I'm 60 on the 20th of November, I know all about that now )

 

Yeah, we've been told this too Malc, in fact it was the RSPCA lady that came for the swan with a broken wing so..... (shrug)

 

As for the seal you saw at Bardney, one came back past us a few days later so hopefully it was him!

[Supermalc]

That's another one then Sam, as I saw 'ours' swimming back at Kirkstead in March, when I was towing Elsie May back to save her.

[carlt]

Mammals adapted to live in salt water are quickly exhausted in fresh because of the lower bouyancy. Also the skin will quickly shrivel and slough because of poor osmoregulation. This is an extreme version of the shrivelled fingers we experience after an extended bath. This doesn't happen if you chuck a bucket of salt in the tub.

[Supermalc]

Mind you, unless they sink to the bottom when they die (surely not) there have been no reports of dead ones, so I can only assume they have all made it back to sea.

[Big Steve]

I'm a bit dubious about this seal thingy. How can they live in Loch Ness for months then?

They won't get wrinkly skin 'cos they are furry animals, the fur being waterproof. What about freshwater seals? I can see the buoyancy bit, but having seen them bobbing about in the Trent, they don't appear to bob any lower than when in the sea. There are plenty of other freshwater mammals that don't seem to have a problem, voles, otters, mink, beaver, hippo, platypus, hippos aren't even furry, so why don't they get wrinkly skin? My minds starting to boggle now (imagine a furry hippo!).

 

Can anyone come up with a definitive reference?

[tru171]

hi, sorry to interupt but we saw a seal between kirksted bridge and tattershall bridge on either 31st aug or 1 sept,, theres a few otters at dogdyke aswell, tru,

[Purple Fairie]

hi, sorry to interupt but we saw a seal between kirksted bridge and tattershall bridge on either 31st aug or 1 sept,, theres a few otters at dogdyke aswell, tru,

 

I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm afraid those otters are mink!

[carlt]

I'm a bit dubious about this seal thingy. How can they live in Loch Ness for months then?

They won't get wrinkly skin 'cos they are furry animals, the fur being waterproof. What about freshwater seals? I can see the buoyancy bit, but having seen them bobbing about in the Trent, they don't appear to bob any lower than when in the sea. There are plenty of other freshwater mammals that don't seem to have a problem, voles, otters, mink, beaver, hippo, platypus, hippos aren't even furry, so why don't they get wrinkly skin? My minds starting to boggle now (imagine a furry hippo!).

 

Can anyone come up with a definitive reference?

Yes but you've dismissed the scientific fact of osmoregulation so why would any reference change your mind?

 

There are plenty of saltwater fish whose cells would explode, through osmotic pressure, if put in freshwater for any length of time. Likewise freshwater fish wouldn't survive very long in saltwater (there are complicated explanations for the exceptions such as salmon and eels). happily the intervention of evolution has enabled fish to adapt to their differing environments.

 

Likewise freshwater amphibious mammals would not thrive in saltwater, just as saltwater mammals do not do well inland.

[colin1325]

otters are making a come back thanks to the do gooders they are large critters going up to 4 foot and eat evrything and anything including ducks and other wildlife they can devastate fisheries in a short time lovely things i dont think i could eat a whole one but id give it a go

[Supermalc]

Not as destructive as Pike. Last couple of weekends there have been fishermen on Roy's bank. Keep pulling Pike out and PUTTING THEM BACK. Wonder there's any fish left, mind you, having seen the number around the boats at Bardney the last couple of years it's a wonder the dredgers that farm fish haven't been seen.

 

Oh and last year while moored at Chapel, someone came down with traps to try to catch some of the mink......when we looked there was no bait in them. Probably why they are such good preditors if they live on fresh air

Edited October 24, 2007 by Supermalc

[Big Steve]

Yes but you've dismissed the scientific fact of osmoregulation so why would any reference change your mind?

 

There are plenty of saltwater fish whose cells would explode, through osmotic pressure, if put in freshwater for any length of time. Likewise freshwater fish wouldn't survive very long in saltwater (there are complicated explanations for the exceptions such as salmon and eels). happily the intervention of evolution has enabled fish to adapt to their differing environments.

 

Likewise freshwater amphibious mammals would not thrive in saltwater, just as saltwater mammals do not do well inland.

 

Sometimes Carlt you're a real gobby git, I didn't dismiss anything, just asked a question. Your reaction suggests to me that you can't explain or offer any reference that specifically refers to seals. And we where not talking about fish, but seals which are mammals, or had that escaped you?

 

I'll ask again, how can seals live for months in Loch Ness quite happily? In fact so happily scoffing all the fish that they have to be shot in the end?

 

Another question, I was assuming that seals are furry creatures, but is that only fur seals and pups? Where does the fur come from on seal fur sporrans?

Edited October 25, 2007 by Big Steve

[Supermalc]

The seal that lived around Bardney Lock lived apparently happily for several months. I'm not sure what happened to it in the end. Probably the same fate as the one in Loch Ness.