Seals - finally!

Sorry it's taken me so long to get round to this post. I have been wanting to share these photos for ages but just haven't had the time to post them - too many Christmas cards to write and gifts to wrap and parties to attend (hehe no actually they don't start til this coming weekend - along with the long list of carol services I've told Tim I want to go to!)

I've been very contemplative this Advent season and will most likely post more about my musings but for now I will just get on with the long-awaited post!

The photo at the top of this page is meant to show how far along the beach the seals were and also how bloooming cold it was that day - but it's too small so you'll have to use your imaginations :o)

This was the most common sight along the beach - a mother and baby having a rest. The babies would occassionally make a noise that honestly sounded like "mum, mum" and the mothers would occassionally look up at an unexpected noise, see it was just 'those humans again' and settle back to her sleep. It's so strange to think that they are so relaxed with all us humans taking pictures of them - but they have come to this same beach for so many years and been protected by the lifeguards and the RAF that they truly have no fear.

This is how close they would come. We were stood behind a second fence about a foot away from this seal pups head. This was one very nosy pup and s/he left the safety of mum's side to come and investigate. Alright for her but two of the mothers then started fighting over whose pup it was...

We think that it was the one in the background's because the one in the foreground has blood on her neck and from what we could gather she had no pup in sight. We think maybe she lost her pup and kept thinking others were hers only to be fought off by the real mothers. This is of course only speculation and I do hope it wasn't so - but knowing how hard it is for babies to survive in the wild we know it is a real possibility. Although I do not like to see them fighting I love this photo as it really catches the moment and the true nature of the seals - firecely protective of their young!

This last photo makes me laugh the most though - I don't know if you can enlarge the photo but basically a pup is nursing at the base of the sign which says:

"Danger: Military firing range. Keep out when warning flags or lights are displayed.

Danger: When access allowed do not touch any military debris. It may explode and kill you"

That is just how weird this whole thing is - the seals come over once a year and take over a whole military firing range. Last year when my parents when apparently the aircraft were flying over practising and the seals were less bothered than the humans. And the RAF there work to keep the seals safe whilst they are there. There was even a story of a seal who many years ago came close to death caught with wire around its neck. The RAF worked with the lifeguards and local conservationists to free the seal and save it and since then it has come back each year to the exact same spot to have her baby. How cool is that?

Right I really must go to work now - I hope you enjoyed seeing the seals as much as I did!