Friday 18 March 2022

Beside The North Sea

If you were here for my last post about wonderful Winterton you'll recall we were going to Horsey Gap to look for some seals. As we bumped down the track and into the car park we saw an encouraging sight - a woman in a high-vis jacket, carrying a bucket. The bucket was for donations and the bright yellow jacket indicated that she was from that excellent charity Friends Of Horsey Seals. And where there are Friends there will be seals.



"Many seals about?" we enquired. "Hundreds" came the reply.



Now this may look like some kind of Grey Seal orgy and in a way it is - an orgy of itching and scratching.



Having given birth to their pups between November and January, the seals return to the sea for a few weeks to feed up. Then they come back to this beach from late February to moult and grow a new coat for the next year.



The whole process takes about six weeks and they live off their reserves of fat during this time as they wait to regrow the protective waterproof layer.



Unlike when they are giving birth it's OK to go on to the beach at this time, as long as you stay at least ten metres away from them and don't do anything to scare them. They also get a lot closer to each other when they don't have young ones to protect.






Incidentally you sometimes see pictures of seals "waving" to the camera. It's adorable, isn't it? But what people don't realise is that this apparent friendly behaviour is actually the seal saying "Back off, mate, you're too close!". It's amazing what you can learn if you chat to the volunteer wardens.






They must be doing something right along this stretch of our coastline. In 2002/2003 there were about a hundred Grey Seals here and they raised perhaps 50 or 60 pups. The numbers have increased at around 10% each year and this past winter there were around 2,500 pups raised.






The seals come just far enough up the beach to get out of the water, which leaves plenty of room to wander along maintaining enough distance between you and them. These photos were of course taken with a long telephoto lens.






"If you're going to stick your tongues out at us, then we're leaving"



"Good, then we can get on with this tiring business of growing new coats".


Incidentally, we needn't have travelled to the coast in search of sand. This was the top of my re-cycling bin the next day......


....that's dust from the Sahara, picked up by the wind and then dumped on us by a passing shower, leaving a fine coating of sand on every surface. There's plenty on my windows too, if anyone wants a job.


Take care.


28 comments:

  1. What an interesting post. They do look adorable with those huge eyes but as you rightly point out they are wild animals and deserve our respect. As for the sand, yes the car and windows were covered with it yesterday.

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  2. Their soulful eyes remind you of dogs and then you see those inelegant fat bodies not made for land but for the sea and you wonder what evolution was up to. Thank you for the photos.

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  3. Fantastic photos. I smiled my way through them. What great news for the seals to be protected like that.

    Our windows are in need of a good cleaning from the red island soil blown around every winter, not as exotic sounding as Sahara sand and muddier I bet.

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  4. A great outing, John. I give it my "seal" of approval. I expect you will be wanting to write a song about the sand making its way from Africa. "Sahara Sand Settling on my Sill" has a nice ring to it, sort of reminiscent of chestnuts roasting on an open fire! Be sure to publish the lyrics.

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  5. Love David's comments above - can't add to them - he says it all.

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  6. Ah, the seals have such fine bodies for water, not so much for land! I think of their fur and never knew they molted to have a new coat every year!

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  7. Love seeing the seals there. Makes me want to take a drive up the coast here to see if the harbor seals have come yet this season. Your photos are so beautiful, even if that one seal is sticking its tongue out at you. LOL!

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  8. Seals are interesting characters. They have an interesting yearly cycle.

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  9. Such a wonderful variety of colors and patterns on their coats and you captured them nicely in your photos. I learned a lot about seals from you today, John. Thank you!

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  10. They look like they are really enjoying the sun and sleep. Lovely coats on them. We have more seals in Canada as well, but some complain they eat too many fish. Nothing is ever simple.

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  11. What a great sight seeing all those seals. The one with the tongue sticking out made me laugh. Fantastic photos, John!

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  12. The seal sticking it's tongue out made me laugh, too. Wonderful to hear their population is slowly increasing. Excellent photos!

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  13. That is encouraging that their numbers are increasing. You got some great shots, John.

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  14. Oh my goodness, what a treat! I didn’t know about the waving behavior and I didn’t realized they were so varied in color. That sand traveled a long way to get to your place.

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  15. Quite a crowd! They are photogenic... And apparently sound sleepers.

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  16. Wonderful. I was surprised to see you get sand blowing from the Sahara.

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    1. Yes, it doesn't happen that often but once every few years the conditions are just right and the sand gets into the upper atmosphere and ends its journey on our cars and windows.

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  17. Those are truly wonderful shots, John. My son and I took a seal trip off Blakeney a few years back. It was wonderful, but my photos were nowhere as good as yours. I should trade my camera in and get a decent telephoto lens!

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  18. Hi John - wonderful to see ... I've been so lucky to see Cape Fur Seals in Namibia - they always impress. Also seeing them in Cornwall on occasions - but excellent you can get to your coast and see them. Brilliant photos - cheers Hilary

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  19. A great pod of seals captured by you, and you obviously respected their distance as none of them is waving at you.
    The sand never reached us here, but the orange photos seen from Spain looked unreal, and must have been very toxic for all of those living there.

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  20. I've been to see seals on the Lincolnshire coast at Donna Nook, there are fences there to keep people back. I think the managed areas are safer for all.

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  21. Great photos of seals. You were lucky to be able to see them.

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  22. Incredible to see so many at one time! What a sight. And that sand??? From the Sahara??? Now that's just weird. And amazing.

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  23. Fabulous photos of these adorable but cumbersome looking creatures. It's such good news to hear that their population is growing. Well done Friends of the Seals.That's pretty amazing to get sand from the Sahara.

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  24. I love these photos of the seals. Such beautiful animals. Enjoy your day, hugs, Edna B.

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  25. Seals are always exciting to see. None here in the warm waters of the gulf.
    The woodwork in the rafters of the old barn is amazing!

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  26. These seals look so cute. Wonderful post!

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