Despite being a globally rare species we are lucky in Cornwall to see grey seals quite regularly and they can be found all around the Cornish coast at sea or hauled up on the beaches. As they are predictable creatures it becomes easy to plan a visit with high hopes of spotting them.

Such was the idea when we set out from Harlyn car park, near Padstow, yesterday walking across the beach towards Mother Ivey’s Bay. We weren’t far on the walk before we spotted a couple of black heads in the water – initially easy to confuse with wet-suited surfers who were also out in plenty in the fine weather and good surf. Surfers, however, have large boards and not pointed noses so it soon becomes quite simple to differentiate the two!

Another good spotting area is Godrevy Point near St Ives where there is a large colony of grey seals in Mutton Cove. They haul themselves onto the beach and can be viewed from above in the National Trust car park.

Grey seals can dive to depths of 120m and forage on the seabed for sand eels and dragonets. They have finely developed senses with good smell via nostrils to sniff you out, hearing similar to a human and amphibious vision. Their whiskers are also sensitive and enable blind seals to survive in the wild. Each seal has a unique pattern in its fur that it keeps for life so it makes tracking them, by photo ID, a simple and harmless process.

So, if you are down in Cornwall and spot a seal it might not be particularly unusual but it is a joy to see these fine creatures enjoying the clean waters of the coast.