{"id":352257,"date":"2025-08-17T18:25:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T18:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/352257\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T18:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T18:25:14","slug":"seal-basks-in-heatwave-at-devon-seaside-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/352257\/","title":{"rendered":"Seal basks in heatwave at Devon seaside town"},"content":{"rendered":"

It found a very nice spot to perch up for the afternoon<\/p>\n

William Telford<\/strong> Business Editor<\/p>\n

10:26, 17 Aug 2025Updated 10:27, 17 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

The Devon town of Exmouth is becoming quite the place for seal spotters this summer.<\/p>\n

Warren Radmore sent DevonLive this stunning shot of a beautiful seal on the sandbank, taken just a couple of days ago.<\/p>\n

It is not the first seal sighting in Exmouth<\/a> in recent weeks with several of the marine mammals seen on the sandbar, sometimes in groups.<\/p>\n

Several people have posted pictures of Exmouth\u2019s seals on social media.<\/p>\n

The Exe Estuary is rated as one of the best places to see seals, according to Visit South Devon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On a blog, the organisation said: \u201cIt\u2019s also not unusual to spot a seal or two on the Exe Estuary, usually found reclining on the mudflats or moorings in the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said the Exe Estuary is one of the most important wildlife habitats in South Devon and added: \u201cEach year thousands of birds migrate here during the winter and it\u2019s a significant area for invertebrates that live within the mudflats \u2013 making the estuary as biodiverse as a tropical rainforest.\u201d<\/p>\n

A seal enjoying the sun on the sandbar at Exmouth(Image: Warren Radmore)<\/p>\n

Other South Devon locations where seals can be spotted include Brixham<\/a> Harbour, Berry Head Nature Reserve, Dartmouth<\/a> Harbour and estuary, Slapton and Torcross, Churston Cove, and Hopes Nose in Torquay<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Trust said that Morte Point, near Woolacombe in North Devon<\/a>, is also a seal hotspot.<\/p>\n

Of the 33 species of seal two live around the British coastline: the common seal and the grey seal.<\/p>\n

The UK grey seal makes up more than 60% of the world\u2019s population, and is larger than a common seal, with the males tending to have a more uniform colour.<\/p>\n

Although seals are timid, they can bite if they feel under threat so people are advised to approach calmly and carefully, especially when in the water or close to seal pups.<\/p>\n

Also, try not to scare them. Seals cannot move well on land, if spooked they can become injured as they dash across rocks for the sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It found a very nice spot to perch up for the afternoon William Telford Business Editor 10:26, 17…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[91855,41354,70,77611,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-352257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-brixham","9":"tag-exmouth","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-torquay","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115045513594305751","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}