Thoughts turn to accounts of historic seal spots

The discovery of a bearded seal at Timoleague recently, prompts renewed interest in early records, writes Richard Collins

In 1855, a man named Evans shot a seal near Roundstone, Co Galway. The resident grey and harbour species were persecuted back then but the animal Evens killed, it seems, was a harp seal. The victim sank when hit, so its identity couldn’t be confirmed. However, UCC zoology professor, Fergus O’Rourke, in his Fauna of Ireland, wrote that ‘Mr Evans accurate description makes it highly probable that this was the species involved’.

The harp was not the only Arctic seal to visit Ireland in the 19th Century; hooded seals also turned up. A description of one seen in Galway Bay in 1898 is so accurate, according to O’Rourke, that ‘there can be no doubt in accepting the record’. The discovery of a bearded seal at Timoleague recently, prompts renewed interest in these early records.