Common seal  (Phoca vitulina)

The common seal is found from the subtropics to the Arctic around coasts of the North Atlantic and the North Pacific (6). In Europe they occur off Icelandic, Danish, German, Dutch and Icelandic coasts as well as around the UK. The UK supports 45 percent of the European population (five percent of the world population); main centres of population occur in the Moray Firth, The Wash and the Tay Estuary, and the species is fairly widespread around west Scotland, the Northern Isles and the Hebrides (6).

Common seals seem to prefer sheltered waters. They haul out on a range of habitats such as rocky shores, sand and gravel beaches, mudflats and sand bars. Preferred haul out sites are protected against land predators and strong winds or waves, are close to food sources and enable direct access to deep water (5).