{"id":387346,"date":"2026-01-24T04:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T04:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/387346\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T04:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T04:28:15","slug":"seal-discovered-in-london-garden-as-shocked-owner-says-its-a-brilliant-feeding-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/387346\/","title":{"rendered":"Seal discovered in London garden as shocked owner says: ‘It’s a brilliant feeding spot’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman was shocked to find a seal<\/a> in her garden in south-west London, but animal welfare charities have confirmed that it\u2019s nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n

Naomi Cassman, who lives in Twickenham<\/a>, said she was worried when she first saw the seal at the beginning of January because she \u201cthought something was wrong with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she was quickly reassured because, she explained: \u201cWe realised that it\u2019s just a brilliant feeding spot for seals. Occasionally they come down from the sea and eat here, and when they are completely satiated, they lie on land to digest.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that the seal used to rest \u201chappily\u201d on the island<\/a> opposite her boat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really rare but its becoming more common\u201d. She added: \u201cA lot of wildlife here is transitioning. I\u2019ve seen a mink and a heron.<\/p>\n

\"Seals<\/p>\n

Seals should not be approached if they are spotted in public (Naomi Cassman)<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout two years ago, I saw a mother and baby dolphin and was like, \u2018Wow!\u2019 It\u2019s like living in a Disney film<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite how magical this might seem, Naomi warned locals not to bother the seals if they ever spot them.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cSeals are really frightened of people, much more frightened than we are of them – unless you go up to them, they\u2019re dangerous then. Just leave them alone. They\u2019re just coming up to feed.<\/p>\n

This comes after a video circulated Facebook which appeared to show a seal on a Thames river path between Richmond<\/a> and Kew<\/a>, which prompted questions from locals about whether to be concerned about the animal\u2019s welfare.<\/p>\n

Thames Seal Watch<\/a>, the animal welfare organisation, said: \u201cThis particular seal is no stranger to us and going by the recent video only, appears alert and in good body condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeals spend time both in the water and hauled out on land to rest. They will return to the water once ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have documented sightings of this seal in a few different parts of Thames going back to at least 2023, but have not seen him in this location before. Seals swim large distances and move around regularly. One of our famous seals Freddie in 2021 was documented both in the Netherlands<\/a> and France.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though seal sightings in London seem to be increasing, Seal Watch are unable to concretely determine whether these sightings are multiple seals or the same few seen multiple times. The organisation said it is working to collect data on the animals to \u201cput those puzzle pieces together\u201d.<\/p>\n

They urged Londoners not to approach the seals if they spot them whilst out and about.<\/p>\n

The group warned: \u201cParticularly in London, it is important to give them space: keep dogs on leads, move away from the area, and avoid sharing live locations, as this can attract crowds and increase the risk of disturbance or incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a seal is hauled out in an area accessible to people and pets, please call the BDMLR (British Divers Marine Life Rescue)<\/a> hotline on 01825 765546 so trained medics can better assess the seal’s welfare and\/or stand by, advise the public, and help ensure the seal is able to rest without disturbance and that incidents are avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cIf you\u2019d like to learn more, Thames Seal Watch will soon be launching a public course about our local seals, covering everything the public needs to know, including best practice when sharing space with seals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman was shocked to find a seal in her garden in south-west London, but animal welfare charities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[13707,388,146229,90,146228,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-387346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animal-welfare","tag-london","tag-naomi-cassman","tag-science","tag-seal-watch","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}