Colonies are also found in coastal Iceland, Great Britain, northern Norway, Denmark, southern Sweden, and Estonia. Young seals wander widely. For instance, Canadian grey seals are sometimes seen as far south as New Jersey. Grey seals breed in a variety of habitats where disturbance is minimal, including rocky shores, sandbars, ice flows, and islands. They feed in cold open waters.
Grey seals eat a wide variety of fish, squid, octopus, and crustaceans such as shrimp.
Sometimes they eat a seabird or two. Small fish are swallowed whole, while larger ones are held in the seal's mouth and torn into smaller, more easily swallowed pieces with the claws on the front flippers. Grey seal breeding seasons vary, but most breeding takes place between late September and early March. Males posture or fight for access to multiple females, which congregate at haul-out sites to bear and nurse their young. Gestation lasts ten months to a year, and pups are born at haul-out sites the season following mating.