A Seal By Spanish Arch

Wompa1

Hey guys,
I was down at the Spanish Arch yesterday in the evening and there was a seal in the water right by the bridge and he bobbed merrily out to sea. Was just wondering if thats a normal thing?

LadyMayBelle

Yeah he/she comes in quite regularly and has done for the past few years. Saw him yesterday actually, just popped his head up for a nose at the spanish arch!

Galway's equivalent of Fungi the dolphin:)

cornbb

That sounds cool I've never seen him/her/it. Apparently Salthill has a dolphin regularly visiting though, I've seen it a couple of times.

mayotom

Wompa1 wrote: »

Hey guys,
I was down at the Spanish Arch yesterday in the evening and there was a seal in the water right by the bridge and he bobbed merrily out to sea. Was just wondering if thats a normal thing?

There was lots of them around there a few years ago....

JTC83

mayotom wrote: »

There was lots of them around there a few years ago....

God, I'd totally forgotten about them until I read your post! There used to be loads of them there. Wonder what happened them or where they went to.

banthebrick

Was walking down by the clubhouse(?) at claddagh (where all the swans usually are)the last day and saw loads of fish swimming around the surface.
have been there loads of times and never seen such marine life...maybe de seal was following said fish inshore.

banshee_bones

never seen him/her but will deffo keep a closer eye out now!

Das Kitty

There are a few of them around. They even swim upstream as far as the sluice gates when the salmon are in.

There's definitely both grey and harbour seals hanging about.

gary82

LadyPennyworth wrote: »

Yeah he/she comes in quite regularly and has done for the past few years. Saw him yesterday actually, just popped his head up for a nose at the spanish arch!

Galway's equivalent of Fungi the dolphin:)

I'm pretty sure it's not the same seal you're seeing! Was out fishing one morning and in the bay between nimmo's pier and the Galway Harbour building there were 7 seals :eek: at one point, all evenly spaced out. Usually one or two around there anyway, very easy to spot when the water's calm.

banthebrick wrote: »

Was walking down by the clubhouse(?) at claddagh (where all the swans usually are)the last day and saw loads of fish swimming around the surface.
have been there loads of times and never seen such marine life...maybe de seal was following said fish inshore.

Yeah these are mullet. There is always a few around the claddagh, eating the bread that the swans don't get. In the last few weeks the numbers down there have gotten ridiculous!! Must be the warm weather. Last Thursday I threw a stone into the middle of that little bay and hundreds of fish splashed up! :P Wouldn't fish for them though - they were eating the scum off the top of the water the last day - heads up out of the water. ugh

Ronan|Raven

JTC83 wrote: »

Wonder what happened them or where they went to.

You remember that cheap run of "fish" and chips that were doing the rounds?

Zzippy

gary82 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it's not the same seal you're seeing! Was out fishing one morning and in the bay between nimmo's pier and the Galway Harbour building there were 7 seals :eek: at one point, all evenly spaced out. Usually one or two around there anyway, very easy to spot when the water's calm.



Yeah these are mullet. There is always a few around the claddagh, eating the bread that the swans don't get. In the last few weeks the numbers down there have gotten ridiculous!! Must be the warm weather. Last Thursday I threw a stone into the middle of that little bay and hundreds of fish splashed up! :P Wouldn't fish for them though - they were eating the scum off the top of the water the last day - heads up out of the water. ugh

Try it, they are one of the most hard-fighting sport fish to hook - make sure you have the drag set on your reel though! You don't have to eat them, put them back afterwards...

leninbenjamin

gary82 wrote: »

Yeah these are mullet. There is always a few around the claddagh, eating the bread that the swans don't get. In the last few weeks the numbers down there have gotten ridiculous!! Must be the warm weather. Last Thursday I threw a stone into the middle of that little bay and hundreds of fish splashed up! :P Wouldn't fish for them though - they were eating the scum off the top of the water the last day - heads up out of the water. ugh

that's actually a bad sign... Mullet tend to thrive is polluted waters, that's why you always find them around piers and that (or so me Skipper cousin tells me).

gary82

The scene over there isn't actually too unlike this;



I'll bring the camera the next time I'm over!

So back on topic... seals eh?!

Mrs OBumble

LadyPennyworth wrote: »

Yeah he/she comes in quite regularly and has done for the past few years. Saw him yesterday actually, just popped his head up for a nose at the spanish arch!

Galway's equivalent of Fungi the dolphin:)

Quick: let's give him a name, and get someone to write a travel book about how cool he is.

forestfruits

I think there are two seals, one of them only has one eye apparently!

Sponge Bob

Call them Bucky ( as in one eyed buck of course ) and Plaza

Wompa1

forestfruits wrote: »

I think there are two seals, one of them only has one eye apparently!

Cool we can call them Captain Winky and Curious George the Seal edition

"Out of the ocean and into our hearts" - Andre Movie Poster Caption

inisboffin

How about 'nut bush' (for those 'bushin' near by) and 'city limits'
Just like the song!:D

I like Spongebob's names too tho!

I was sitting down by the Spanish Arch bout three years ago with a friend. Out of nowhere, a whole family of Seals came swimming down the canal. I had recorded a video of them, but that video is on a phone that's long lost now.

Remember a few years back, when I was in Scoil Catriona, we used to drive down by Lough Atalia and there would always be tons of seals on the rocks. Was some sight but unfortunately haven't seen it in a long long time

Seaneh

I was cycling along that path infront of the hunts man thats brings you to the lough side of renmore a few weeks back and seen about 4-5 small heads popping up every 30 seconds or so, watched them for a while form a fair distance, assumed they were otters (grew up on a lake, used to seeing otters playing!) not now I reckon they were probably seals, that and I just realised Otters live in rivers and lakes, not costal bays.

Xiney

gary82 wrote: »

The scene over there isn't actually too unlike this;



I'll bring the camera the next time I'm over!

So back on topic... seals eh?!

those don't look like any mullet I've ever seen.

more like carp or catfish or something...

Zzippy

Seaneh wrote: »

I was cycling along that path infront of the hunts man thats brings you to the lough side of renmore a few weeks back and seen about 4-5 small heads popping up every 30 seconds or so, watched them for a while form a fair distance, assumed they were otters (grew up on a lake, used to seeing otters playing!) not now I reckon they were probably seals, that and I just realised Otters live in rivers and lakes, not costal bays.

Otters do live along the coast as well, Ireland has probably the biggest population of otters in Europe and they are all along the coast as well as on inland waterways. There are otters living in the middle of the city here, but rarely seen during the day.

Xiney

Seaneh wrote: »

I was cycling along that path infront of the hunts man thats brings you to the lough side of renmore a few weeks back and seen about 4-5 small heads popping up every 30 seconds or so, watched them for a while form a fair distance, assumed they were otters (grew up on a lake, used to seeing otters playing!) not now I reckon they were probably seals, that and I just realised Otters live in rivers and lakes, not costal bays.

Sea Otters

Seaneh

Xiney wrote: »

Sea Otters

From The Wiki link.
"The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean."

We don't have Sea Otters in Ireland, we have European Otters (Lutra Lutra) only in the wild.
I wasn't aware that they lived on the coast as I grew up in the exact centre of the country and was only used to seeing them on rivers, streams and lakes.

Seaneh

Zzippy wrote: »

Otters do live along the coast as well, Ireland has probably the biggest population of otters in Europe and they are all along the coast as well as on inland waterways. There are otters living in the middle of the city here, but rarely seen during the day.

Cheers for that, never seen any along the coast before but a quick look through some websites says that it's fairly common in Ireland, Britian and Scandinavia, which is always nice to know. And yeah, Ireland is pretty much the European Otters strong hold at the moment but they are still highly threatened, 18% population drop in 25 years is massive!

The ones in the city, do you have any idea of their feeding range (as in where they are likely to be, which river, which bank/bends?)? Would be nice to sit somewhere wuiet and watch them for a wee bit some evening.

JackyJoe

Yeah, the mullet around the Claddagh Basin and in Lough Atalia do not
look to appealing. Hard to catch, I saw tons of them once at a beach
at Barna near the pier, they came right up to the waters edge, feeding off the small flies eye that were in the seeweed on the shore line. I had a
fishing line and cast into them, not even interested.
Mind you there are 80 different types of mullet, the red one seems to be
a favourite in a lot of places in Portugal. Of the 80 types we must have
the poor relation. I think the warm weather moves them further to land and the seals are probably following them in.

leninbenjamin

JackyJoe wrote: »

I had a
fishing line and cast into them, not even interested.

stick a bit of bread on a hook and they'll come.

Discodog

The funniest was the Fanore Dolphin. The guy who owned the land where it came in wanted to charge so he out up a very threatening sign about trespassing. The Guards said "Ye can't do that !" so he whitewashed over the threats but you could still read them.

Then he decided to paint his own double yellow lines to stop cars parking. Anyone who asked where the Dolphins was got the reply "keep going till you see the yellow lines then stop & park !"

Seaneh

Isn't 10 meters from the shore line public land? or you have right of way or something, like, you can't stop people from landing/launching craft from it or something? Atleat it is on inland waterways.

Seaneh

JackyJoe wrote: »

Yeah, the mullet around the Claddagh Basin and in Lough Atalia do not
look to appealing. Hard to catch, I saw tons of them once at a beach
at Barna near the pier, they came right up to the waters edge, feeding off the small flies eye that were in the seeweed on the shore line. I had a
fishing line and cast into them, not even interested.
Mind you there are 80 different types of mullet, the red one seems to be
a favourite in a lot of places in Portugal. Of the 80 types we must have
the poor relation. I think the warm weather moves them further to land and the seals are probably following them in.

If you were worried about their condition you could keep them live and then store them in a bucket/whatever of clean water for a few days, feeding them your self, and they would be grand. I'd eat them no bother, would clean the **** out of them first though.

Discodog

Seaneh wrote: »

Isn't 10 meters from the shore line public land? or you have right of way or something, like, you can't stop people from landing/launching craft from it or something? Atleat it is on inland waterways.

I think that the foreshore is public & is defined as the land between lowest & highest tide.