Seal washes up on Thurstaston Beach and is monitored by BDMLR

At 10.09am yesterday (Sunday, February 19) BDMLR received a call from a dog walker on Thurstaston Beach to say that a seal had washed up on the beach.

The seal, which was a common seal, is found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere.

After the out-of-hours co-ordinator received the call, Chris Cureton, North-West co-ordinator for BDMLR, sent out a group text to his team to see who would be able to respond to the call.

Mathew Bett and Ruth Kennedy answered the call-out and attended Thurstaston Beach to check the seal.

Speaking to the Globe, Chris said: "Despite the name common seal, they aren't that common. We usually deal with grey seals in the area.

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"The guys arrived on scene and kept people, dog walkers and dogs away from the seal. 

"They then took photos to send to me to establish if there was any obvious injuries or obvious loss of weight."

Over his 10 years in the position, Chris has trained around 300 medics in the North-West region.

He added: "People are shocked when we say seals only spend three weeks with their mum and then it's off into the big wide world.

"This specific seal was quite feisty. I asked Mathew to get the cage, weigh it, and take its temperature."

As the team was about to start checks, the seal decided to make its own way back into the sea.

Mathew and Ruth monitored the seal for a while (Image: Mathew Bett)

The seal then pulled out of the sea again, but as it was further down the beach in a muddy area, where dog walkers or dogs were unlikely to walk, the team was happy.

If you spot any marine life you think is stranded, call 01825765546 for advice.

Chris is holding a Marine Mammal Medics Course on Saturday, March 18 in New Brighton. For more information about how to get involved, visit here.