A SEAL appears to have made its way more than 20 miles inland after being spotted near a Darlington village.

Martin Landers was canoeing in the Tees just downstream of Middleton One Row, towards Low Worsall, near Yarm, when he saw the animal playing with its food.

He took footage of the wayward seal as it played with a large fish just centimetres from the canoe.

He said: “At first I saw a large fish which kept jumping out of the water so I went a little closer to see.

“Then I realised the fish was dead and that there was a seal. I thought it was an otter at first but I had seen one a few days before on a different stretch of the Tees.

“I realised it was definitely a seal and that it was actually playing with this dead fish, pushing it out of the water with its nose.

“I didn’t think they came this far upstream but it seemed really happy and healthy.”

Just weeks ago a rescue attempt was made on a seal which had swum 50 miles upriver to Thirsk, but the large grey male, which had been nicknamed ‘Sammy’, by locals, sadly died during the rescue.

He was found to be underweight and had stopped breathing without warning when rescuers tried to move him.

Harbour seals can survive in freshwater for several weeks and usually return to the sea themselves but sometimes can become trapped if they are lost or disorientated.

They may lose their way chasing a fish upstream or swimming up in search of food. But most of the food they need to survive is in a saltwater marine environment.”

The seal spotted by Mr Landers must have somehow navigated its way over the Tees Barrage at Stockton before heading further upstream through Stockton and pasts Thornaby, Eaglescliffe, Ingleby Barwick and Yarm before heading to Low Worsall, which was the site of the ancient Tees port, and further upstream towards Middleton One Row.

Seals are often spotted in the Barrage area but it is rare for one to have made its way as far inland as this one.

Mr Landers has been exploring different stretches of the Tees in his canoe each weekend and said he had ‘seen some sights’ but never expected to spot a seal.

“I could nearly touch it,” he said.

“I touched the fish with my oar and the seal quickly snatched it away. It was almost as if it was playing a game with me, saying ‘you can’t have it’.

“There was a fisherman watching me on the bank and he said he just couldn’t believe it either as he’d never seen one around there.”

A decline in numbers of salmon and trout in the Tees three years ago was blamed on the numbers of seals in the barrage area, with fisherman describing it as ‘like McDonalds for seals’.

And anglers have this year been ordered to catch and release any salmon they catch in a bid to boost salmon numbers in the river.