Friends of Horsey Seals came into being when funding of the original project dried up in 2011. In 2003 Natural England had teamed up with the Broads Authority to give protection to a small group of Atlantic grey seals that had started to give birth on Horsey Beach.

Breeding success suffered from the lack of understanding that these shy creatures were easily spooked by the presence of humans. Local volunteers were recruited to ask visitors to keep their distance and the colony returned in greater numbers year on year.

Friends of Horsey seals has managed the project from 2012. Some of those early helpers, including Peter Ansell and Albert Ward, felt strongly that the work should continue. When asked, they agreed to take the project on. It was renamed Friends of Horsey Seals (FoHS). The number of births on Horsey beach had been steadily increasing each year and by that time had reached around 500 pups.