Baie de Somme: harbour seals & wader roosts

Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina), grey seal, oystercatcher, knot, dunlin, curlew, spoonbill. Picardy coast, Somme, France.

Best time: 15 Jun – 15 Sep (June to September). Where: Pointe du Hourdel, Parc du Marquenterre, Le Crotoy shore (France). Time of day: Seals: the 2 h either side of low water, when the banks are exposed.

• You can go on your own
• Entry fee
• Telescope recommended
• Sound 3/5

Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.

When is the best time?

Peak: 15 Jun – 15 Sep. June–Aug for seal pups on the sandbanks; wader roosts peak Aug–Oct and in winter

Active from 1 Jan to 31 Dec (all year) in a typical year.

Time of day

Seals: the 2 h either side of low water, when the banks are exposed. Waders: the 2 h either side of high water, when roosts pack onto the shore. Spoonbills and the heronry any time in Marquenterre's hours (check opening).

• Seals at low water (tide-timed): sunrise → sunset

Depends on the tide: best around low tide. Check local tide tables.

What will you hear?

Seal pups bawling and adults grunting from the sandbanks at 300 m, oystercatcher and curlew roosts, and spoonbills clattering in the Marquenterre heronry.

Binoculars?

Telescope recommended. Seals are 300 m off by law and waders roost far out; a scope, or the Picardie Nature volunteers' telescopes in summer.

Where to go

• Pointe du Hourdel — France's largest harbour seal colony hauls out on the banks opposite; Picardie Nature volunteers with telescopes in summer. Map
• Parc du Marquenterre — Paid reserve with hides; spoonbill and heron colony, huge wader and duck roosts. Map
• Le Crotoy shore — Wader roosts at high tide; busy promenade. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

Pointe du Hourdel: free car park at the point; the seals are on the banks opposite at low water, 300 m minimum. Le Crotoy: the promenade and the digue. Parc du Marquenterre: ticketed, 10:00–19:00 (last entry 17:00). The bay's tidal channels are dangerous — stay on the shore.

Cost: Hourdel and Le Crotoy free; Parc du Marquenterre €12 adult (2026).

Free or no-guide alternative: Pointe du Hourdel at low water is free and land-based: seals bawl on the banks 300 m off, Picardie Nature volunteers have scopes in summer.

Field-recording notes

Legal minimum distance from seals is 300 m on foot (fine of 750 € for disturbance), so close seal sound needs a parabola or a hydrophone from a kayak on the far side of the channel — pass parallel, no stopping. Tides move fast in the bay: know the times. Hunting (huttes) is intense on the private marshes around the bay from August; the Marquenterre and the Réserve naturelle are shot-free.

Sources

• Picardie Nature – protection des phoques
• Parc du Marquenterre

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More: all spectacles in France · seals · whales, dolphins and seals · France in June · France in July · France in August · France in September