Some photos from our annual trip to see the seal colony at Donna Nook. Again an amazing spectacle, a huge number of seals, bulls, cows and pups and its great to know that the tidal surge last year although causing a huge amount of damage to the walkway and fencing, actually wasn't as bad a feared as to how many pups lost their life. The warden said they found mothers with pups up to three miles further down the coast where they had moved them to safety. Mother nature at its best.
A rare black seal about 1 in 400 are black
We had a chat to one of the wardens about this seal who had twins, he said that they thought that she had adopted one who had been abandoned as when they realised that she was feeding both they thought there was a couple of days between the two. Apparently it isn't uncommon they had a cow a couple of years ago feeding two but they cannot confirm that any cow has actually given birth to two pups as they have never actually witnessed it.
The bulls are huge, but they move really quickly although clumsily
These two were making next years pups, although he was nearly drowning her!
The cows feed the pups for about 18 days, they then mate again with a number of bulls and then return to the sea. The pups stay on the dunes for about 5-6 weeks and then they leave.
It looks like another great year as already the pup numbers are up on last year.
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