Walruses in Britain and Ireland

Beautiful Walrus, photo courtesy of photographer 

@leenpictures on Instagram.

Flabby, orange and sporting the mustache of an old man, Walruses are instantly recognizable (and not only for their fabulous facial hair) but also for their tusks, making them stand out amongst the other pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses). These gigantic biological weapons are used by the males in combat, during which they rear their heads and stab

A brutal fight between two leviathans among Walr uses.

fanatically at each other, the fights often resulting in fatalities. They’re also used in foraging, but when it comes to eating they're somewhat gentle giants: they stir up the mud on the seafloor to uncover any little worms, molluscs and anything else they can find there, which they quickly gobble up. Having said that, they do occasionally eat carrion (already dead animals) such as beached whales carcasses and have been known to slaughter seals when needs must, being powerful and agile underwater, (though cumbersome and ungainly on dry land).


Preferring the frozen world of the arctic, it might come as a bit of a surprise when you discover that these magnificent creatures have been seen several times in the UK and Ireland, and not just the remote, northern islands of Scotland either, but have incredibly come as far South as Norfolk and the south coast of Ireland.  

Harbour Seals, relatives to the Walrus and a more 

normal sight to see-photo taken by Jacob Tancock.

Admittedly, the bulk of sightings do occur further up North, the Shetland Islands boasting a whopping number of them, with Orkney also having seen its fair share. One Walrus discovered lounging on the island of Ronaldsay seemed to have a particularly strong liking the group of islands, happily swimming around in their shallow waters, foraging for food, before then deciding to do a tour of the Scottish Highlands. He swam along the entire North Coast of Scotland, popping up every now and then to sunbathe on secluded coves and bask in the limelight and snapping cameras of onlookers. Eventually though, satisfied he’d spent enough time there, he disappeared for good, traveling back to his freezing world up North. But not before fondly being dubbed ‘Wally’ and stealing the front page of several national newspapers.

A close up photo of Wally, in all his glory!

Seeing a Walrus outside of the Arctic in itself is incredibly rare, let alone seeing one in UK waters, but despite this, Walruses have been seen much further South than North Scotland, such as one found decades ago on the isle of Arran, a small island situated off the South West coast of Scotland. The most Southerly sighting in the UK however, was much further south, remarkably, in the River Ouse in Norfolk.

The first attempt to catch the Walrus-people 

watching said it was "actually quite

comical". 

Unlike Wally, this individual was a juvenile, disorientated and confused, thought to have still been finding its feet and taken a wrong turn, ending up swimming down the increasingly narrow River Ouse. It was first discovered by two fishermen, who noticed a hulking shape trailing their boat through the water, but just about the last thing they were expecting it to be was a Walrus. Within hours, their entire village knew about it and members of WWF, RSPCA, and other wildlife organizations were being called to the river. Following some debating, they decided it would be best to take the young Walrus back to the mouth of the river and release it into the open

The River Ouse has also been subject to several seals

over the years-this one was photographed by 

Fletcher Telling.

ocean. Easier said than done.


After disappearing for a bit, the Walrus was found again, comfortably nestled among some reeds on the riverbank, sunbathing. This was it-the perfect chance to catch it, and slowly a crowd began assembling, large nets and ropes passed around. Carefully everyone took up their positions, cautious not to disturb it. Then they launched into action. Flailing their nets and ropes around wildly, everyone jumped down the riverbank, frantically attempting to get a hold on the Walrus. But not a single person managed to, and the Walrus just rolled over back into the river, a few determined locals wading through the water after it, before realizing how pointless it was.

The juvenile Walrus-curled up among the reedbeds.

After three more days of being at large in the river, and a national charity set up to raise money for it to be airlifted back to the arctic, the Walrus was finally caught, and begrudgingly allowed itself to be carried back up North to the Arctic.

Cumbersome on land, Walruses are in their element

underwater, swimming gracefully on their powerful

flippers and tail.

Even this wasn’t the most Southerly Walrus sighting in our local seas though, with that being recorded in Ireland, the West coast of which has been littered with sightings over the last few decades. The most Southerly of these, (and the most Southerly one in the UK) in the county of Cork, right on the South coast. Spotted swimming close to the shore and described as a “hairy ginger cow-sized animal” it wasn’t hard to figure out what it was, and soon a crowd of local wildlife enthusiasts had flocked down there to find the mighty creature. After some searching, it was found stretched out on a beach, sunbathing, (as per usual) and despite everyone’s hopes that it might go back into the water for another swim, it just contently lay there nearly motionless for six hours, sluggishly dragging itself away at night when the tide came in.


Why are they coming this far south?

With no means of escape, tragically Walruses

are easy to kill for any illegal hunts. 

As is the case with many things, there isn't one explanation to answer this, but there’re many combined reasons, and many sightings have their own unique explanations. For example, the reason the juvenile Walrus turned up in the Ouse River is that it was inexperienced with navigating its way around, and had turned up there completely by accident. While Wally the Walrus in the Orkney Isles is thought to have been confused by the infamous Beast From The East.

Many of the other sightings, however, involved Walruses that were mature and perfectly health; not showing any signs of being disorientated. In some of these cases, it’s actually thought that they might’ve come to the UK on purpose. The reasoning behind this is that when a Walrus wants some “alone time” away from the rest of the family group they’ll regularly swim to new, distant locations, just so long as there’s food and a quiet spot to haul out on. So, when some went in search of somewhere new to go to 

With no ice to haul onto, Walruses are forced to climb on any land they can get to-when this

photo was taken this Walrus only had moments left to live, falling off a clifftop it had been

forced on to since there wasn't any ice. 

, and saw a quiet, rocky UK or Irish cove, they decided to temporarily make it their home and spend some time there.


As always though, Climate Change also played a part, causing a whole host of different reasons. Not only is the weather becoming increasingly unpredictable, messing with their instincts, but the ice they desperately need to haul out on (especially if they’ve got babies) is becoming dangerously scarce, melting from Global Warming. This forces them to haul out on whatever landform they can find. 

Even if this is much further away from where they’d prefer to, or if hauling on top of it could cost them their lives. This was one of the tragedies filmed in one of David Attenborough's documentaries Seven Worlds One Planet, where they were filmed climbing a rocky cliff, since all the ice had melted, hundreds of them losing their lives from falling off it.

Sadly, this is just one of the problems they're now facing, with thousands being illegally hunted every year, as they’re too slow to get away quick enough on land. They’re also struck by boats, killed more frequently by starving Polar Bears, unable to catch their normal seal prey. It is such a shame to see such a magnificent animal killed in such large numbers by humans-it seems we’re the recurring denominator of most problems nature is coming up against. I just hope we can turn it around in time.