It was third time lucky for Editorial Director Mark Evans on his quest to dive with the seals off Lundy Island, but it was more than worth the wait, as he explains Photographs by Mark Evans and Colin Garrett
L
undy Island is a rugged granite outcrop lying off the coast of North Devon. It measures just three miles in length, and half a mile wide, and while being a lovely unspoilt slice of countryside, it wouldn’t perhaps appear on any diver’s radar if it wasn’t for the hundreds of Atlantic grey seals which call the waters around it home. Atlantic grey seals are protected by law under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970, and with this protection in place, numbers have swelled immensely. Recent studies believe there are more than 120,000 grey seals in British waters – that’s some 40 percent of the world’s population. So, UK waters might not be that warm, visibility can sometimes be a bit iffy, and weather conditions are known to be somewhat temperamental, but we’ve got seals - loads of seals. The Atlantic grey seal, whose Latin name ‘Halichoerus grypus’ means the rather unflattering ‘hook-nosed sea pig’, is a large seal, which can reach nearly two-and-a-half metres in length, weigh over 300kg in UK waters, and live for up to 40 years. They feed on a wide variety of fish, but are not fussy, and have been known to eat octopus and even lobster. Grey seals can be distinguished from the common seal by its larger size and longer head, with a sloping ‘Roman nose’ profile. Looking straight on, their nostrils are parallel, rather than V-shaped as in common seals.
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