The recent sightings of a Walrus in the coastal waters, and at various seaports and harbours of the UK, brings our attention to the fact that that in the 1800s a certain Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, also had a similar encounter. Our interest and love of such a creature was shown by hundreds of people who followed the trail of the now named Thor the Walrus, around our shores. In Scarborough the local council even cancelled the new year fireworks display, so as not to disturb this wonderful creature. Charles Dodgson was Lewis Carroll who wrote many children’s books including Alice in Wonderland and Thor certainly swam past Roker Beach, in Sunderland where Dodgson used to play on the beach with his young nieces and their friends.
Thor was last seen on the 2nd January leaving the Northumberland harbour of Blyth and heading north for the Arctic Sea of Iceland. These encounters with such a large sea creature has excited many, but in Dodgson’s day it didn’t actually happen. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson actually came across a stuffed Walrus in the museum at Sunderland whilst staying at Holy Trinity Rectory in the town with his sister Mary and her husband the Rev Charles Collingwood.
He named Alice in Wonderland after Alice Liddle, the daughter of his friend Henry Liddle, and he took Alice and her sister Frederika to Roker Beach where he sketched them. It is suggested that it was there that he got the inspiration to write the poem the Walrus and the Carpenter:
The time has come, ‘the Walrus said,
To talk of many things:
Of shoes-and ships-and sealing wax-
Of cabbages-and kings-
And why the sea is boiling hot-
And whether pigs have wings.’
Thor the Walrus appears to have swum down the East Coast of the UK in October 2022. He was then observed in the Netherlands on the 6th November, and in Brittany on the 18th November. In December he was in Southampton before heading back up the east coast of England to turn up at Scarborough on the 20th December. And as we know now, Blyth in Northumberland was our last sighting of him in the UK.
Thor appears to be an immature male, but could grow to be three and a half metres in length. His weight will, when fully mature, be around 1,900 kg. His Latin name is Odobenus rosmarus. Walrus are occasionally seen in the waters around the UK, but are more commonly seen on the west coast of Ireland. The species is legally protected in the UK.
A close look at the facial features of the walrus gives us the impression of an elderly gentleman. We feel he would talk to us if he could, and indeed speak of many things. In the UK we have been brought up on tales and stories of animals of all sorts, these have come to us from writers and cartoonists. As children we have met characters such Ratty and Mole in Tales of the River Bank, of Rupert Bear in the Daily Express, Paddington Bear of Peru, in South America, who came to live in London. Many of us were introduced to nature and the natural world by the likes of Winnie the Pooh or Peter the Rabbit.
These wonderful stories have delighted thousands of children world-wide for several generations, so its little wonder that when we get the opportunity to actually see an unusual real wild animal, we flock to admire it.
But in doing so, we have to remember that wild animals are actually wild, they are not at all human-like, much as we might like them to be. But this interest shows that in the UK at least, people are really keen to learn what they can about the animal species we share our planet with.
So, Thor the Walrus brings attention to the environment. Why do these magnificent animals leave the comfort of their own world in the northern arctic seas? Could it be that he was ousted by other stronger males of his family group? Why did he come to see England? Why did he rest up in our busy harbours? One thing is certain these occurrences are becoming a little more common. Is this a result of climate change, or is it just chance?