The return of whales, seals and dolphins to the British coast is a wonder to witness | Philip Hoare

Our shapeshifting seas have been degraded over the centuries, but we can still take inspiration from their beautyIt's an encouraging start to 2022. In an informal census - or perhaps a sort of watery award ceremony - the Wildlife Trusts' marine review of 2021 has pointed to humpback whales off the north-east coast of Scotland and England, increasing numbers of seal pups being born, and seahorses in protected beds of eel grass off the Dorset coast.It seems the work of the trusts and other marine conservation bodies is having a good effect. Blue whales appearing in the Irish Sea may be physical beneficiaries of the general agreement of the International Whaling Commission in 1982, effected three years later, to halt the cull of the species. It is as if the whales themselves remember, encouraged to return without fear of someone sticking a harpoon in them.Philip Hoare is an author whose books include Leviathan, Or the Whale Continue reading...