A seal was captured basking in the early morning sunshine after it hopped on board a barge boat on the River Stour.

The Thames sailing barge Thalatta was anchored for the night off Wrabness on the River Stour last week with a junior crew of children from Norwich School on board.

When skipper Cyril Varley went on deck around 7.30am on Friday, August 23, he found a large seal stretched out in the sunshine in one of the barge boats tied up to the vessel.

Mr Varley grabbed a quick snap, and Tam Preston, a photographer, who was on the boat during the week taking pictures for a photo shoot said it was quite a surprise.

"He went on deck to do his normal checks and there was the seal enjoying the sun," she said.

"They are surprisingly agile and it had managed to hop right into the boat.

"He said the seal got back into the water eventually without any help and swam off."