LOUNGING around enjoying the autumn sun, Keith the seal seems ready for her close-up.

As Britain was facing up to St Jude’s Storm, the marine mammal was causing a stir at Diglis Lock, where crowds of people have been watching her relax.

Wildlife photographer Dave Grubb took this stunning picture of the seal as she groomed herself on a pontoon at about midday yesterday.

Despite drawing a crowd of about 20 people, Keith did not seem bothered by the attention and was in no hurry to swim away. 

Mr Grubb, from Claines, near Worcester, said: “I was actually down at the Guildhall doing a job when I heard she had been spotted that morning. 

“I took a walk down and she was still there.

“She was just lying on a pontoon in the water, stretching, rolling about and doing a bit of grooming.

“She seemed very relaxed and not bothered by all the attention.”

Kath and Neil Smith, of Armstrong Drive, Worcester, also spotted Keith, named after a Royalist commander, during a morning walk yesterday. The couple moved to their riverside home from Staffordshire 20 weeks ago.

“When we came down we thought it was a lovely place to live but even more so now we have a seal at the bottom of the garden,” said Mrs Smith.

Keith was first spotted almost a year ago but from February was not seen for seven months before reappearing at the start of October, in Kempsey.

Despite previously moving up and down the Severn, she seems to be enjoying her time at Diglis, having first been spotted by Matt Towler, aged 34, on Saturday morning and filmed the following day by Gemma Guscott.

The RSPCA said it had received two calls since Thursday, October 24, from people in Worcester concerned for Keith’s welfare but were not concerned and would monitor the situation.