LOOSE dogs on a nature reserve spooked seals and caused them to to flee into the Irish Sea.

The seals did return to the beach off South Walney but the current warden of the island's nature reserve said the incident was 'frustrating'.

Two men with dogs were reportedly approaching the seals along the spit. The dogs were seen to be off the lead and running around which caused all seals to flee into the water.

Jake Taylor-Bruce took over as temporary warden in November and has urged people with dogs - unless they are guide dogs or assistance dogs - not to bring their pet to the reserve as it may disturb wildlife.

And Georgia de Jong Cleyndert, marine conservation officer at Cumbria Wildlife Trust said: "We have sadly had some recent reports about seal disturbance at South Walney Nature Reserve.

"This is an important time of year for seals to moult, rest and digest and we usually get the highest number of seals hauled out around this time.

"Disturbing the seals and causing them to flush results in loss of important energy stores, increased stress, loss of digestion time and possible injury due to the stampede caused by flushing.

"The area where the seals haul out is not accessible to the public in order to protect the seals.

"It is likely that these incidents were from people who are unaware of the impact of disturbing the seals so it’s really important to raise awareness of the impacts. The seals can be seen from the lookouts at South Walney at high tide and online using Seal Cam."

The grey seals 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.

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 nature reserve where the seals are located.