On Winchelsea Beach towards Cliff End at Fairlight last week, we were out for our permitted exercise when we came across the dead body of a marine animal which had only recently been washed up by the tide and deposited on the foreshore.
We wondered whether this was the end of the creature locally known as Sammy the Seal, who has delighted passers-by over Monkbretton Bridge as it used to swim up the River Rother looking for fish.
We checked it out with Barry Yates, Warden of the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, who confirmed that it had been officially reported. He indicated that from the photograph it appeared to be a Harbour Porpoise, which has a lot of tiny teeth, and not a seal which is a different species.
Image Credits: Elizabeth Royle .