There is evidence of the presence of seals in the Channel Islands from several thousand years ago. Le Sueur (1976) reports: “Archaeological excavations on Les Minquiers have shown that at two periods of time in the past, one about 2000 years ago, and one yet earlier, grey seals were abundant on La Maîtresse Ile, and men went there to hunt them.” Johnston (1981) also reports grey seal bones at Les Minquiers on what “is thought to have been still a promontory of the mainland.” Syvret and Stevens (1998) write of the Neolithic people: “Those who settled on the Minquiers reef were seal hunters, so must have built boats.” Godfray (1929) concluded that seals had “been exploited by men as a food supply” at Les Minquiers some 2000 years ago – the bones were reported as being “nearly all those of immature or very young animals” and that that rendered ”specific identifications difficult or impossible.” Nevertheless seal bones were identified “but only in a few cases” were it possible to identify species – some were noted to “resemble that of the Grey Seal.” Rodwell (1996) writing of Les Écréhous found no seal bones in either the medieval or prehistoric remains.
There appears to be a hiatus in seal history between prehistoric records and those of the 19th century. In their first and second editions Ansted and Latham (1862 and 1865) made no mention of seals. However in the third edition Ansted and Latham revised and edited by Nicolle (1893) noted: “The common seal is occasionally captured and one specimen of the great grey seal was taken in 1887 at Grève de Lecq in Jersey.” However the Jersey language has several words for seal or grey seal (Loup-mathin (sea wolf), sirène, syraine - Carré (1972)) and there are a few references to seals in place names (Stevens, C., Arthur, J. and Stevens, J. (1986)) for example Seal rocks and Loup mathins on the east coast of Jersey and there are Wolf’s caves on the north coast. These latter are even more tentative.
The Annual Bulletins of the Société Jersiaise (from 1875 to 2000) have from time to time reported a variable number of annual sightings. The first record was in the Zoology Section Report of Société Jersiaise Annual Bulletin XII 1938: the “British Empire Naturalists Association” reported “a seal playing around a rock” on the “north coast”. It was a “male grey seal of the black type.” The Bulletins for these years report seal sightings: 1947, 1949, 1961, 1987, 1988, 1991 and in subsequent years. Le Sueur (1976) wrote: “No seal breeding colony exists at present in the Bailiwick of Jersey, but grey seals Halichoerus grypus are occasionally seen. Some years single animals will spend a few months near Les Écréhous or Icho Tower.” Young and Tonge (1992) reviewed the mammals of Jersey and gave “Pinnipedia Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus Occasional.” Buxton (1996) notes the presence in Autumn of Grey Seals at Les Écréhous. Blackstone (1996) and Bossy (1996) both report the presence of Grey Seal colonies at Les Écréhous. In particular Bossy notes: “… frequently seen is Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus). Usually only one or two individual adults are seen and they are often difficult to approach closely. It is likely that they are part of a larger widespread colony which inhabits Les Minquiers and is based on the northern coast of Brittany. No juvenile seals have been reported at Les Écréhous.” The numbers of seal sightings recently reported to the Zoology Section of the Société Jersiaise fluctuates from year to year. There were for example 31 sightings in 1997 (Pyman,1998) and 11 in 2000 (Pyman, 2001).
|
Société Jersiaise Records (See note 1 below) |
||
|
Year |
Number of Sightings |
Number of Days on which there were
sightings |
|
1987 |
5 |
5 |
|
1988 |
See note 2 below |
See note 2 below |
|
1989 |
0 |
0 |
|
1990 |
0 |
0 |
|
1991 |
2 |
2 |
|
1992 |
2 |
2 |
|
1993 |
1 |
1 |
|
1994 |
3 |
3 |
|
1995 |
14 |
14 |
|
1996 |
11 |
11 |
|
1997 |
See note 2 below |
See note 2 below |
|
1998 |
19 |
19 |
|
1999 |
20 |
18 |
|
2000 |
11 |
See note 2 below |
|
Notes 1. Société Jersiaise data has kindly been provided
by Keith Pyman, Marine Mammal Recorder, Zoology Section 2000 and is included
in the JerseySeals database. 2. Data awaits confirmation (at 19.3.05). |
||
There is one known Jersey record of a white-coated (natal coated) seal pup - Pyman (1998). On 6th November 1997 such a pup was observed near Rozel on the north coast of Jersey. It was seen to enter the sea. On 25th November a dead white-coated seal pup was found on the south east coast but it is not known whether they were one and the same animal. Neither can it be certain that the pup was born around Jersey.
There are also seal sighting records from the other Channels Islands. The Société Guernesiaise have records of seal sightings from Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou and the Roches Douvres from 1990 (Gower (2000)). Bonnard and Bonnard (1995) report that the Grey Seal has been “seen on several occasions in most years, around our coasts, more frequently round Guernsey and on the reefs beyond Burhou, the seal has not been known to breed here, although young have been seen …”
The authors are aware of reports
of the presence of the Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina) in the Baie
de Mont Saint Michel.
The authors have compiled a significant seal-sighting database from their own sightings and records and also have access to data provided by many individuals and organisations and held as the JerseySeals’ database. The authors’ data involves sightings of grey seals on some 290 occasions over some 120 days from August 1997 to February 2001 inclusive. Sub adult seals are often sighted but white-coated pups have not been observed. The databases are regularly updated and will continue to inform reports made to the Zoology Section of the Société Jersiaise. It is important to appreciate that there is no evidence, or inference that can be drawn, concerning the size, or change in size, of the seal population from the data on these databases.
The authors are indebted to Helen Gower of the Société Guernesiaise and to Keith Pyman, Marine Mammal Recorder for the Zoology Section of the Société Jersiaise for their help with their respective records of seal sightings and to the librarians of the Société Jersiaise. JerseySeals is grateful to all those who report seal sightings and especially, in this context, to Nick Jouault.
Ansted, D. T. and Latham, R. G., 1862, The Channel Islands, (First edition), London.
Ansted, D. T. and Latham, R. G., 1865, The Channel Islands, (Second Edition), London.
Ansted, D. T. and Latham, R. G. (revised and edited by Nicolle, E. T.), 1893, The Channel Islands, (Third Edition), London.
Blackstone, C., 1996, The Islands in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (of Les Écréhous) in Rodwell, W., Les Écréhous Jersey, page 292, Société Jersiaise.
Bonnard, B and Bonnard, J., 1995, A Natural History of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Herm, The Guernsey Press.
Bossy, S., 1996, Marine Biology (of Les Écréhous) in Rodwell, W., Les Écréhous Jersey, pages 48 – 49, Société Jersiaise.
Buxton, I, 1996, Ornithology (of Les Écréhous) in Rodwell, W., Les Écréhous Jersey, pages 48 – 49, Société Jersiaise.
Carré, A., 1972, English – Jersey Language Vocabulary, Don Balleine Trust.
Godfray, A. D. B., 1929, Annual Bulletin Société Jersiaise, 11, page 193.
Gower, H., 2000, personal
communication.
Le
Sueur, F., 1976, The Natural History of Jersey, page 87, Phillimore & Co.,
London.
Pyman,
K., 1998, Annual Bulletin Société Jersiaise, 27, 194.
Pyman,
K., 2001, personal communication.
Rodwell, W., 1996, Les Écréhous Jersey, page 250, Société Jersiaise.
Stevens, C., Arthur, J. and
Stevens, J., 1986, Jersey Place Names, Volume I and II, Société Jersiaise.
Syvret,
M. and Stevens, J., 1998, Balleine’s History of Jersey, pages 4 – 5, Phillimore
& Co, Chichester.
Young, H. G. and Tonge, S.
J., 1992, A review of the Amphibians, Reptiles and Mammals of Jersey, Annual
Bulletin Société Jersiaise, 25 (4), pages 717 – 721.
Authors: Ewa Le Marquand, Jo Le Marquand and Krysia Le Marquand. First published: 25.02.2001 - this version dated 19.03.2005 (minor revisions). This article makes no pretence to be either exhaustive or definitive. It significantly extends a presentation by the authors, as members of the Jersey Seal Project (since renamed JerseySeals), to the Zoology Section of the Société Jersiaise in April 2000. It is published here to further appreciation and understanding of the status of seals around Jersey and the other Channel Islands. The present Status of Seals in Jersey (2000) is reviewed on this website at Local Seal Species and Jersey Seals 1999 / 2000.