A seal surprised beach-goers cooling down in the sea over the bank holiday weekend - after coming over and giving kisses to swimmers at an Essex beach.
The friendly creature had been spotted around the area for a number of days and greeted swimmers at Bell Wharf beach in Leigh-on-Sea on Sunday, August 25.
Tara Lee, 22, was having a dip in the sea when she encountered the wild seal.
She told Essex Live : "I was swimming and my friend said ‘There’s a seal behind you!’
"I thought it was a dog at first, but then it poked its head out of the water and I realised it didn’t have any ears. It swam past us and then it started swimming around.
"It was just swimming under the water and then popping out and saying hello to everyone."
Animal-lover Tara even got a kiss from the cheeky sea-mammal. She added: "I’d only seen seals when I was little, and not up close, so it was a really nice experience.
"A few people were happy to be in the water with it until it got close and then they were like ‘Aaaah’.
“A lot of people were saying ‘Be careful, it might bite you,’ and there were kids screaming, but I’m an animal lover so it was really nice.
“I hadn’t been there in ages. I was a bit sceptical about going, but my friend, who is from Argentina, had seen pictures of English seaside on social media and really wanted to go.
"She convinced me to go and we had a great time. She wanted to see something a bit more rural, but she wasn’t expecting to see a seal there."
Between twenty and thirty people were in the water when the exchange happened, with more watching from the beach.
A few swimmers even treated the seal, feeding it slices of fish from local fishermen.
