SEALS IN LOCH NESS

GORDON R. WILLIAMSON*

ABSTRACT

A Common or Harbour Seal Phoca vitulina L. lived in Loch Ness, Scotland, for seven months from November 1984-June 1985. Photographs of the seal are presented. This is the first time a seal has been proven in Loch Ness. Fishermen's reports indicate that Loch Ness is visited by a seal approximately once every two years.

INTRODUCTION

Loch Ness is one of Britain's largest and deepest freshwater lakes. It is long, narrow, deep and straight 38 km long, 1.7 km wide and 230 m deep, is 16 m above sea level and is connected to the sea by the 12-km-long River Ness. It lies in the valley of a former glacier. Many salmon Salmo salar L. migrate through Loch Ness. The temperature of Loch Ness surface water ranges 4-12°C (Wedderburn, 1907). The ecology of Loch Ness is described by Maitland (1981). Common or Harbour Seals Phoca vitulina L. have a well-known habit of exploring up rivers and in northern Canada permanent populations of Common Seals live in freshwater lakes 300 km inland from the sea (Mansfield, 1967; Hewer, 1974; King, 1983). About 100 seals, both Common Seals and Grey Seals Halichoerus grypus Fabricius, live in the sea near Inverness. Indi­ vidual seals of both species can regularly be seen I km up the River Ness in the middle of Inverness town, especially at high tides. There have been several reports of a seal in Loch Ness (Anon, 1933; 1934; 1934) and beyond Loch Ness in the River Oich (Harvie-Brown and Buckley, 1895, pl83), but these reports were not supported by photographs and were not believed.

OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSION

Between November 16, 1984 and June 11, 1985, a seal was seen in Loch Ness by myself and other people. Photographs were taken (Figs I and 2). The seal was identified as a Common or Harbour Seal Phoca vitulina by its head profile, with turned-up nose by its grey colour with black spots and by its estimated length of I .Sm. The other species of seal found around Scotland, the Grey Seal, has a long straight nose, like an Alsatian dog.

* Heather Cottage, Kessock, Inverness, Scotland, U.K.

Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst., No. 39, 1988, 151-157 152 WILLIAM SON

Fig . I. S eal in Lo ch Ness with U rquh art Cas tle . Februar y 27, 19 85.

F ig. 2. Co mm on Sea l in Loc h Ness. Febru ary 27, 19 85. A bov e: se al in natur al swimmin g position . Ce ntr e and below : sea l wit h hea d rai sed in respo n se to a low whistle sound mad e by me .

The sea l spent most of it s seve n m onth s living on th e south s ide of Loc h N e ss oppos ite Urqu h art Castle (F ig. 3). H oweve r, the sea l was seen in many parts parts of Loch Ness, in cluding Fort Augu s tus 48 km fr om the sea. T he seal was seen seen in the riv er ex it of Loch Ness at Lo chend on four separate occasions (Dec. (Dec. I, Dec. 21 ,J a n. 13, Feb. 8) yet it did not descend the river to the sea.

Sci. Sci. R ep. Whale s R es. Inst., No. No. 39, 1988 SEALS IN LOCH NESS 153

about 100 seals here

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This suggests that the seal "knew" where it was, was not "lost", and that it deliberately remained in Loch Ness. The seal appeared to be in vigorous good health throughout its stay in Loch Ness. The seal was shot on June 11, 1985. About 30 people reported about 60 separate sightings of the seal to me. Of these 30 observers, twenty-eight were local. people who had close contact with the surface of Loch Ness - either fishermen in salmon-trolling boats or people who lived beside Loch Ness. Of the hundreds of thousands of people, locals and visitors, who drove along the roads beside Loch Ness during the 7-month period, only two (that I know of) - a pair of Australian tourists at

Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst., No. 39, 1988 154 WI LLIAMSON d心、フP竺、こフ~~

ig. Fig. 4. Seal m aki ng successive jum ps. as see n by fisherman M r Ge1T y Breau.

Fig. 5. A Co mm on Sea ljum pin g in sea n ear Orkney Islands . Photog 1aph by Paul Th om pson.

Urq uh a rt Cast le - not ice d the sea l. Co mm on Sea ls spe nd on ly about 20 % of th e tim e at th e surface, and m ake di ves of 3-8 minu tes durat ion (P. Thompson, pers. co mmn) . Co nclusion: in Loc h N ess it is very hard to not i ce suc h a sm all anim al as a sea l unl ess yo u spe nd m any hour s cl ose to th e water. Wh ile at the sur face, th e sea l breat hed in and out about 24 times per mi nute (measured by obse rvin g th e ri se and fa ll of it s bac k w hen the sea l was 日oat ing hor izontally). T he sea l ofte n foll owe d the boa ts of sa lm on fis herme n w ho tro ll along th e sid es of th e Loc h ,o fte n fo ll ow in g a boat fo r half an ho ur, to the annoyance of the fi sherm e n. O ne day fi sherm an M r Ger ry B rea u acce ler ated his boat 【O tr y to ge t away fro m the sea l, and th e sea l ch ased after the boat at top speed, leap in g out of and in to th e wate r te n success ive ju mps like a porpoise (F ig .4). H ow eve r, thi s behav iour w as onl y see n on one occasio n. Fi sherm en and riv er baili ff s in for m ed m e of the fo ll ow in g sight in gs of sea ls in L och Ness durin g rece nt yea rs: 1972 - 80: Abo ut 4 sea ls see n in va ri o us par ts of the L och, incl udi ng 2 toget h er at m outh of Ri ver Mor iston. 198 1 Apri l- Au gust: I sea l seen at mouth of Ri ver M ori ston. 19 84 N ove mb er- ] un e 1985 : I sea l see n in m any part s of L oc h (this report) .

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seal looks more like a "sea-serpent" than a dolphin: a seal jumps equal-length jumps in fast close-spaced rhythm; whereas a dolphin jumps regularly and the jumps are spaced further apart. The distribution of seals in the larger Scottish lochs is shown in Fig. 6 and was discovered by interviewing fishermen and river bailiffs etc. In near­ to-the-coast Loch Shiel, Hope and Maree, seals are seen as follows: L. Shiel : one or two seals seen most years, may stay several months, once five seals seen together. L. Hope : one seal six weeks in loch June-July 1983, one definite Grey Seal one month in loch August 1984. L. Maree: one seal seen 1981, five seals seen Sept-Oct 1983. In lochs which have hydroelectric dams blocking their outlet river, such as Lochs Morar, Lochy and Awe, seals are not seen. In former times in Loch Awe, however, when the outlet river flowed freely to the sea, seals were seen: "The seal comes up from the ocean, through a very rapid river, into Loch Awe in quest for salmon, and retires to the sea at the approach of winter". (Anon, 1793, p260). "For ten years, up to 1883, we saw one or more seals in Loch Awe almost every year, most frequently in the Autumn, but also in April in some years". (Harvie-Brown, 1891). In Loch Lomond, which is near the sea and whose river is unobstructed, seals have not been reported (P.S. Maitland pers. commn): perhaps the industrial pollution in the Firth of Clyde during the past century is the cause. The former occurrance of seals in Loch Awe is interesting for it proves that seals can ascend rivers at least four times steeper than the R. Ness (slope of R. Awe 5. lm/km, R. Ness l.3m/km). (Fig. 6). In rivers on the east coast, the furthest upstream places and distances above tidewater at which individual seals have been seen are: R. Spey Aberlour 27 km R. Deveron : Bridge of Marnoch 30 km R. Ythan Fyvie 37 km (A young Common Seal was photographed Nov. 30, 1984). R. Don Grandholme Works 2 km (Industrial pollution and weirs in river). R. Dee Park Inn Pool, Drumoak 19 km R. Tay Caputh 24 km.

CONCLUSION The data presented prove that a Common or Harbour Seal lived in Loch Ness during seven months of 1984-85, indicate that Loch Ness is entered by a seal about once every two years, and prove that a seal can live for many months in Loch Ness. The route of entry of a seal must be from the sea up the River Ness. These data suggest that past reports of seals in Loch Ness were true and that seals have probably been visiting Loch Ness for thousands of years.

Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst., No. 39, 1988 SEALS IN LOCH NESS 157

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank following persons, R. Niall Campbell, Peter S. Maitland, Paul Thompson, Sidney G. Brown, Sheila Anderson, John Horwood, Mike Fedak, Julian Hunter, Tony Harmsworth, Adrian Shine, Dick Raynor, Gerry Breau, John Bailey, Tony Chapman, Willie Paterson, D.G. Smith, Samantha Paske, Sandy Steel, George Reid, Peter Grant, John Cathcart, Brian Allely, Andy Brady, Alec Slaney, James Macdonell, Peter Wilkinson and Angus Kennedy.

REFERENCES

ANON., I 793. Statistical Account of Scotland. Edinburgh. 6. ANON., 1933. Strange spectacle on Loch Ness. What was it? Inverness Courier newspaper, May 2. ANON., 1934. Loch Ness Mystery: Seal said to be seen at Fort Augustus. Inverness Courier newspaper, Jan. 16. ANON., 1934. A Grey Seal: London scientists and Monster's identity. Inverness Courier newspaper, Oct 5. HARVIE-BROWN, J.A., 1891. The Common Seal in freshwater streams and lochs of Scotland. Scottish Natur alist, Jan 1891: 1-5. HARVIE-BROWN, J.A. and T.E. Buckley, 1895. A fauna of the Moray Basin. Edinburgh, David Douglas. HEWER, H.R., 1974. British Seals. London, Collins. KING, J.E., 1983. Seals of the World. London, British Mus. Nat. Hist./Oxford Univ. Press, 2nd edition. MAITLAND P.S. (ed), 1981. The ecology of Scotland's largest Lochs. Lomond, Awe, Ness, Morar and Sheil. The Hague, Junk. 283pp. MANSFIELD, A. W., 1967. Distribution of the Harbour Seal Phoca vitulina Linnaeus in Canadian arctic waters. ]. Mamm., 48: 249-257. WEDDERBURN, E. M., I 907. The temperature of the freshwater Lochs of Scotland, with special reference to Loch Ness. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., 45 (2): 407-489.

Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst., No. 39, 1988