Seal cam

Grey seal live cam streaming from South Walney Nature Reserve

Welcome to #SouthWalney seal web cam!  Our camera provides an up close and personal view into the lives of the only grey seal colony in Cumbria, plus a view of South Walney Nature Reserve. Please click the white arrow to stream the live cam.

Seal pups are incredibly vulnerable to disturbance, which would cause the mother to abandon it and the pup to starve. For this reason, there is strictly no access to the area of the nature reserve where the seals are.

Strong Guidance for seagoers & visitorsMarine & Coastal Wildlife Code: please read before you go

The Marine & Coastal Wildlife Code gives advice on how you can help to minimise disturbance to wildlife when you visit the coast.

When we survey the seals here, we’re not just counting them. We’re also checking their behaviour, to see how they're affected by human disturbance, such as recreational boating around Walney Island.

Please help to protect South Walney Nature Reserve

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About grey seals and this web cam location

This web cam live streams from our South Walney Nature Reserve on the west coast of Cumbria and is powered by StreamDays.  If the camera is not working, please be assured we're resolving the issue and in the meantime, click the button below to enjoy some recorded footage.

Watch recorded footage of grey seal pups at #SouthWalney

The seals on the cam are grey seals. Another species of seal is the common seal however the common seal is generally found around the coasts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and eastern England. 

Seal pups are incredibly vulnerable to disturbance, which would cause the mother to abandon it and the pup to starve. For this reason, there is strictly no access to the area of the nature reserve where the seals are.

However, seals can be seen playing in the water at high tide, along with thousands of wintering wildfowl and wader birds, from hides on South Walney nature reserve. 

Grey seal conservation

Grey seals suffered from severe persecution, their numbers dwindling as a result. Thankfully, grey seal populations have increased due to a ban on shooting and now the largest European population is found in the British Isles.

Join in the conversation

If you have any questions for our South Walney Nature Reserve officer do send them in via our Twitter page using #SouthWalney or commenting below and we'll come back to you as soon as we can.

If you see anything of interest whilst watching the seal cam feel free to comment below, with a screen grab too if possible.

Hopefully this year will bring another successful year for this colony of seals and interesting viewing for you!

How you can support Grey seals

You can be part of our vital conservation work for the grey seals at South Walney Nature Reserve by making a donation or joining us as a member. Although protected, they still suffer from illegal shooting, pollution and disturbance when breeding.

To help seals and other marine wildlife, The Wildlife Trusts are working with fishermen, researchers, politicians and local people towards a vision of 'Living Seas', where marine wildlife thrives. This work has recently had a massive boost with the passing of the Marine Bill, promising sustainable development of the UK's marine environment.

Grey seal pup and its mother on a pebble beach

© Cameron Titorenko

Take action

Sponsor a Seal

Support the South Walney seals and our work to protect them.

Sponsor a Seal now
South walney nature reserve and piel castle with people looking at wildlife interpretation board - copyright john morission

Visitors using a wildlife interpretation board at South walney nature reserve, Piel castle in the background © John Morrison

Featured Nature Reserve

South Walney Nature Reserve

Walney Island, Barrow in Furness

How to get to South Walney Nature Reserve
Amazing to see the seals - couldn't believe our luck and how many there were! Can't wait to come back again…
The Haywards
grey seals on pebble baeach at south walney nature reserve

Grey seals © Cumbria Wildlife Trust

Species

Grey seal

Find out more
a grey seal mother and pup at south walney nature reserve

A grey seal mother and pup at South Walney Nature Reserve © Cumbria Wildlife Trust

FAQs

Grey seals at South Walney

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting playback issues

Our cameras use HTML5 player so you will need to click the play button to watch the live stream. Safari browser users may have difficulty streaming the cam, please try another browser. If you're still experiencing playback issues please email us and we'll do our best to help.

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Why doesn't it work on a Flash player?

The live streaming is no longer compliant with Flash because Adobe is phasing the Flash plugin out.  Unfortunately not all browsers are fully HTML5 compatible.

For example, you may find on one mobile device that Google Chrome browser will work fine, but then not on another mobile device; the reason for this is that different devices only have certain versions available, which again make some devices compatible and others not. 

Streamdays recommends that users ensure that their device and browser are up to date. 

Samsung users:

Please try the native built in browser which is called “internet” that is also compatible. 

Android users:

Both Firefox and Samsung internet seem to work.  Google Chrome and Microsoft Bing appear to be incompatible. 

Mac users:

If your playback settings do not allow the option to enlarge the screen to full, please update Safari browser on your Mac to the latest version which should resolve the issue.

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