CORNWALL — tin miners and fishermen spring to mind as the symbols of the fiercely individual peninsula.

But there is another living creature that is at home in Cornwall's coves and coastal inlets.

Cornwall's grey seals are part of a genetically distinct sub-population that is globally significant — so runs the information on the latest publication in the Pocket Cornwall series of books.

Seal Secrets: Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, by Sue Sayer, details the species, sites and secret world of these glistening residents.

Sayers has spent thousands of hours observing grey seals in the wild and set up the Cornwall Seal Group eight years ago.

She says that contrary to their name, grey seal colours range from black to white and cream to chocolate. Each seal has a unique fur pattern, as distinctive as a fingerprint, says Sayer.

Seal pups are born in sea caves or remote coves amid sand and shingle.

Females and males return to the same breeding site year after year — these areas are passed down through generations.

Sayers recounts how a rockfall — fortunately, a week before the breeding season — blocked access to a breeding area, forcing the 'residents' to make their way round the cove to another site, which became overcrowded.

Seal senses, behaviour and stories of individuals who have been identified and named, all are in this interesting little book, accompanied by some up-close photographs of these lovely creatures with their sad, soulful and trusting expressions.

Seal Secrets: Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by Sue Sayer is published by Alison Hodge, price £5.

COLIN BRENT