Timoleague in west Cork is a well-known spot for gulls and waders, with passage migrants and winter visitors finding rich pickings in the tidal estuary. Last week the area hosted a surprise guest when a bearded seal, an arctic and subarctic species, turned up. Erignathus barbatus has been recorded only twice before in Ireland — in 2002 in Co Galway and in 2004 in Co Clare. It is a generally solitary seal, and sub-adults sometime travel great distances beyond the normal range of the species. Fully grown adults measure between 2 and 2.5 metres in length and have a heavy, jowly jaw and a magnificent set of white, military-caricature whiskers. Bearded seals normally favour relatively shallow waters, less than 100m deep, near to moving ice floes, which are their natural territory. Their whiskers act as feelers, searching the sediment on the ocean floor for cod, shrimp, clams, squid and other prey.
Nature notes
Bearded seals have been recorded only three times in Ireland
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