Time for a nap

At this time of year most of our local grey seals are on the Farne Islands.  They go there for the females to give birth in November and for the bulls to establish a territory on the beach and recruit a harem.  Last year over 2,700 pups were born and the grey seal population was almost 10,000.

Grey seals don't breed until they are at least four years old so some of the younger adults don't trouble to go to the Farnes.  A few stay around St Mary's Island at Whitley Bay and last weekend seven were hauled out at low tide for a spot of sunbathing (in a temperature of 3℃).  In fact they usually don't haul out but swim to the rocks at high tide and stay there as the water recedes, refloating on the next high tide.  I walked over to the island (which isn't an island at low tide) to see them.  There were six females and one bull, apparently asleep most of the time.  This is the bull.

This is a female.  Colours vary greatly in "grey" seals.

This photo shows the size difference between male and female.  Bulls weigh 170-310kg while females are 100-190kg.

If they were sleeping it was a fairly fitful sleep as there was a lot of yawning, stretching and scratching going on.

Although grey seals are gregarious they aren't very sociable and like to keep a space around them.  One female got a bit close to the bull which led to a bit of snarling.

One of the females had injuries on her chest and flipper, possibly from sharp rocks or fishing gear.

Many of them had scars.

Watching them is great fun and they often seem to produce almost human gestures and expressions.

There were two more seals in the water.  One of them made an attempt to get out, trying to use the waves to heave itself up onto the rocks but after a few minutes it gave up and returned to the sea.

On the way back to the car I saw a fox, also asleep.  Foxes only live in dens or earths when the vixens are raising cubs and for the rest of the time they sleep when and where they can.  This one was sunbathing in a very sheltered spot, only occasionally opening an eye or looking up when it heard a dog bark.

End of year favourites - Northumberland

As I live on the northern edge of Newcastle it is very easy to escape into proper countryside.  Away from my garden and my two local haunts of Gosforth Park and Banks' Pond I most often head north up the Northumberland coast or west up the Tyne Valley.  Here are a few photos from my travels in Newcastle and Northumberland this year.

I expect you knew what they all are but if not here's a list: brambling (♂), common frog, ashy mining bee (♂), common lizard, chocolate mining bee (♀), adder (♂), grey seal, ring-necked parakeet, common hawker (♂), willow tit, yellowhammer (♂), hawfinch (♂), swallow, twite (♂), shore lark, snow bunting (♂), roe deer (♀).

Inquisitive grey seals

A few more photos from my recent trip to the Farne Islands.  Although most of the seals stayed on shore some of them were very interested in the boat and came out to have a look at us.  These are a few of the characters who came up close.  I suspect they all have very individual markings.

Grey seals on the Farne Islands

This was my first autumn trip to the Farne Islands.  I go out once or twice each summer, mainly to see the birds but we usually get to see a few dozen grey seals as well.  The first seal we saw on this visit was asleep at the top of steps on Staple Island, at least until we approached.

As we got nearer it set off down the steps but was then put off by the drop to the water because the tide was at it its lowest.  It decided not to dive into the shallow water and was relieved when we moved away.

As we toured around the islands we saw hundreds and hundreds of seals.  They were spread along the rocky shores of most of the islands.  The Farne Islands population is about  5000 - 6000 at this time of year and I think we must have seen most of them.

Although they are called grey seals there is great variation in their colour.  Males are larger and darker in colour than females.

Some of them were very interested in the boat and kept a close eye on us as we passed.

Others hardly bothered to look up.

Grey seal pups are born from September to November but there had been only a few when I went out last week. Neonatal mortality is high - around 30% - and several of the earliest born this year did not survive.  The first one we saw was newborn and was lying not far from its mother above the high tide line.

I expect several of the seals lower down the beach are females due soon to give birth.

Last year there were 1500 pups.  About 1000 survive the first month and around 750 live beyond a year.  A few metres from the first live pup we saw was one which didn't make it.

A bit farther on was another newborn, again asleep above the high tide line.  It is top left in this photo.

Many more pups will be born in the next very few weeks.  Newborn pups weigh about 14kg, four times heavier than a human baby, and they are milk fed for only 18 days, in which time they quadruple their weight.

Adult survival is 20-25 years for males and 30-35 years for females so for those pups that make it through the first year the prospects are good.