Stranded baby seal saved after swimming alone into an Essex town

A baby seal was saved after swimming alone into an Essex town and ending up on a muddy bank.

The seal was spotted by a man walking his dog in Wickford who saw the creature on the edge of the River Crouch.

The South Essex Wildlife Hospital were called in to help and, at first, struggled to find the creature.

"We recently got a call from a gentleman who had spotted a lonely common seal pup on the edge of a tiny section of the River Crouch whilst walking his dog," the charity said.

"With no parent in site and the location being far too shallow to support adult seals, Tom [from the charity] rushed over to help.

"Unfortunately, when he arrived the poor pup was nowhere to be seen. With almost 40 minutes passing since the last sighting, Tom had a lot of river to search through!

"Luckily, after over an hour of searching, the pup was spotted on the edge of a muddy bank about 500m from the original location and a now very muddy Tom pulled him to safety.

"Amazingly, only a few people noticed Tom walking back to the ambulance with a seal pup in his arms!" the charity added.

The discovery comes after another seal made its way into a reservoir a few miles away. On that occasion the creature closed the lake in Rochford as it ate its way through £3,000 worth of fish.

The animal drowned after being shot with an anaesthetic dart.

The common seal, nicknamed Nelson by locals, nipped over the bank and into Rochford Reservoir after swimming up rivers from the sea.

The animal had been eating its way through the reservoir’s fish stocks, with one expert comparing it to being “locked inside a branch of Waitrose”.

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