A MAN from Walney was surprised to find an unexpected visitor when out on a trip on his boat alongside his girlfriend

Andrew Clark, 55, was shocked to see a grey seal making a friendly approach to his boat when travelling through the Walney channel near Piel Island.

Grey seals are known to be shy by nature and are usually disturbed by human and boat presence, which is why this is such a rare occurrence.

Luckily, the retired shipyard worker had his phone to hand in order to capture this lovely moment.

“They came right up to us,” Mr Clark said.

“There must have been at least 100 of them on the beach as well that I could see.

“It was the first time they have ever come that close to me on the boat, it was nice to see them.

“I have been part of the Barrow Sailing Club and the Roa Island Sailing club for many years.

“I had my girlfriend out with me and she was really taken aback by this.

“They were just curious I think.

“We did have a bit of music playing in the boat so my thought was that maybe they could hear it in the water and were drawn to us that way.

“But I am no seal expert so I don’t really know why they did.

“I was just very surprised to be honest.

“I usually just drift through that section near Piel Island as I know that they are quite sensitive to loud noise and I did not want to disturb them.”

According to the Cumbria Wildlife Trust website, they can be seen playing in the water at high tide, along with thousands of wintering wildfowl and wader birds, from hides elsewhere on the nature reserve.

It is well documented that baby seals are incredibly vulnerable to disturbance, which would cause the mother to abandon it and the pup to starve.

There is strictly no access to the area of the South Walney Nature Reserve where the seals are located.