A group of people stopped and watched for half an hour as a seal swam in the Mersey.
Lauren Francis told the ECHO she was out walking with two of her friends down near Festival Gardens in Aigburth when she noticed something moving in the water. The 18-year-old from Dingle said at first they thought it was just a log floating but after watching it for several minutes saw it was moving in the water.
Lauren said soon there were several people watching and others came up to her and asked if it was a seal. She said they watched the seal for around half an hour as it bobbed up and down in the water.
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Lauren said: "We went for a walk and saw something in the Mersey. We thought it was a log but it then went under the water. We waited about half an hour for it to pop its head back up again.
"We started taking videos of it because it's quite rare to see a seal in the Mersey. We stood there watching it and were telling other people who were walking past there was a seal there.
"A big group walking past stopped and was watching with us and then a lad on his bike stopped as well."
But Lauren said she thought the seal was "struggling" as it went under the water several times. She said: "It would come up and then swim back up and then go back under.
"It looked like it was struggling in the water. It looked helpless and like it was more and more tired every time it came up. When it went under the water it looked quite big but it also had a really small head so I didn't know if it was a baby or not.
"It looked exhausted though especially because it was battling the tide. It didn't move around too much - it was just in the one place."
Seal sightings in the Mersey can be rare, but Hilbre Island at the start of the River Dee is a regular spot for seal watching. The summer months can often provide a great opportunity to spot grey seals swimming offshore.
