Grey Seals on the rocks

07 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by theresagreen in coastal walks, Little Orme, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, North Wales, Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve, Seals, Wales Coast Path

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grey seals, grey seals in Angel Bay, North Wales Wildlife Trust

In UK waters Grey Seals breed during the autumn. Although the entire breeding season spans approximately 8 weeks, individual females will spend 18-20 days ashore, during which time they each bear and suckle one pup. Towards the end of lactation they come into oestrus, as soon as 16 days after giving birth, and are mated.

August 28th

Another windy day on the headland of the Little Orme, but sunny too and the tide was out. Perfect conditions for seeing Grey Seals hauled out on the small pebbly beach of Angel Bay.

Angel Bay is an inlet on the Little Orme’s Headland on the North Wales Coast. Known locally as Angel Bay, on Ordnance Survey maps it is named in Welsh as Porth Dyniewaid.

Spotting one a short distance offshore in Penrhyn Bay was encouraging. The seal was suspended in the water with just it head above the surface facing towards the shore. They do this often and I’m sure they are ‘people watching’, as curious about us as we are about them.

There were boys in the bay, enjoying themselves greatly by jumping off rocks into the calm sea. I’m sure they were unaware of the seals not far away from them, hidden from their view as they were by an outcrop of rock . Unwilling to risk venturing ashore as they would normally have done, some were making the best of small islands of rock uncovered by the low tide, hauling out their bulky bodies to enjoy the warmth of the sun. Unfortunately there wasn’t room for all of them and some were left to drift around keeping a watchful eye out for a space to become available. Grey Seals are the largest breeding seals we have in the UK and those on view were definitely large, quite possibly pregnant females as they do congregate at traditional pupping sites in the autumn.

One had secured a rock of her own. She was rather beautiful, wearing a mantle of silvery grey velvet.

These three were more sociable and had left room for another.

After a bit of heaving and hauling the smaller one squeezed in, but there was no room left for more boarders.

There are nine seals in this picture – 6 on rocks and three swimming around hopefully.

The driver of one of the jet boats that take out sightseers from Llandudno pier spotted the seals and pulled in so people could have a closer look and take photographs of the seals. He must have passed the info on to other drivers as another boatload arrived a few minutes later. Then another who was a bit more intrusive and that I felt got a little too close. As I said before, seals are naturally curious themselves and are probably used to being observed from the clifftop, so they didn’t seem too bothered by the boats.

As the boat was leaving I took a short video as it is unusual to see the seals awake and moving, although they still weren’t doing much. Perhaps because they were rather put out about their lack of space the seals were quite vocal too, although most of the noise here was made by the departing boat & the wind!

An hour or so later the smaller rock had been taken over by a much larger seal; poor thing looks like she’s about to burst!

Sleeping Seals and Stonechats

02 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by theresagreen in coastal habitat, Little Orme, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve, Rhos-on-Sea, Seals, The Wales Coast Path, Wildflowers of Wales

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alexanders, dunnock, grey seals, grey seals in Angel Bay, jackdaw, jackdaws on cliff, stonechat

A brightly sunny day, too good to miss, so I headed for the Little Orme which offers reliable sightings of a wide variety of wildlife in a relatively compact area with little effort required. Well-used by local people and visitors to the area and part of the route of both the Wales Coast Path and the North Wales Path, the pathways of the lower part of the reserve particularly are often very busy. Opportunities for uninterrupted attempts to photograph the more wary small woodland birds may be limited, but despite close human proximity the birds carry on regardless and largely unnoticed.

I use the entrance to the reserve sited at the back end of a residential area. Today the lawns of the unfenced front gardens were providing foraging for jackdaws and a few Pied wagtails. Outside the breeding season wagtails gather here in the evenings before setting off to roost comunally for the night. On the roofs were perched gulls, Wood pigeons and Magpies and a singing Greenfinch. There’s a thriving House sparrow population here too and cheerful chirruping greeted me as I climbed the steps up to the reserve, where they frequent the tangle of brambles and shrubs there.

The Fulmars have returned to their nest sites high on the cliffs. Although a small colony of just 10 or so pairs they draw attention to themselves by noisily proclaiming their territories and can be heard as soon as you enter the site. I looked out for Ravens that have used the same nest site up on the cliff for many years, but I didn’t see or hear them today.

I was pleased to see a pair of Stonechat though, one of my favourite little birds. They were in the same area within which a pair successfully raised a family last year, so I like to think this may be the same pair. I couldn’t get close enough to them to get good photographs, but I prefer to use ‘real time’ images whenever possible, so these were today’s best record shots.

Stonechat -Saxicola rubicans -male

Stonechat female

The biggest draw to the reserve are the Grey Seals that at this time of year can be fairly reliably seen, when the tide is out, hauled up on the stony beach of Angel Bay. Today there were about 20 females and their rapidly growing pups, a few in the water, the rest sleeping blending perfectly into the background of stones and rocks.

Grey Seals in Angel Bay, Little Orme

Jackdaws are without doubt the most numerous birds here and a great number gather here to breed, nesting on the rocky cliff faces. They spread throughout the site to feed and also separate into small flocks that venture back and forth to forage in a wide variety of places locally, arriving back noisily to land on the cliffs where they site their nests. It is good to see them foraging and nesting in their natural cliff habitat rather than in villages roosting on roofs and nesting in chimneypots.

Jackdaw

Jackdaws in their natural breeding habitat

Blackbirds are another numerous bird here as are Robins and Dunnocks, with males singing from shrubs throughout the site. Close to the backs of houses trees and shrubs are frequented by good numbers of birds. The House sparrows are nesting close to a busy path here and a chorus of chirrupings emanated loudly from within the shrubs, but despite being audible from some distance away, they stayed well hidden. Also seen and heard singing here were Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Wren, Great Tit and Blue Tit.

Dunnock male singing from a wild rose stem with numerous Robins pincushion galls

Wildflowers appear a little later on this windswept clifftop than in more sheltered areas, but there’s plenty of the early flowering Alexanders on show.

Alexanders

Elder leaves are well grown too.

160310-26a-Little Orme-Magpie in Elder tree

Magpie well concealed in an Elder tree

Grey Seal Spot

24 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by theresagreen in Little Orme, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, Seals

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Angel Bay, grey seal, grey seal pups, Little Orme, seals in Angel Bay

2014 – January 11th

The Little Orme is a fascinating site to visit at any time of year as it holds a variety of habitats in a relatively small area and there is always something to see, but the winter months are the perfect time to see some of its special visitors, charismatic Grey Seals. There are never many, but the pebbly beach of Angel Bay regularly attracts a number of new mothers and pups that come to haul out to rest on the shore of this sheltered little cove. They are pretty much undisturbed there as the beach is only accessible by a steep narrow track down the cliff. They don’t seem to mind interested people watching them from above too much, even those armed with cameras, although they definitely know you’re there and may keep a wary eye on you to make sure you stay put.

Today I was pleased to discover there were indeed grey seals here; five adults in a group, seemingly dozing, while three tiny young ones were practicing their swimming techniques in the waves.

Grey seals on the shingle shore of Angel Bay, Little Orme

The adults appeared not to be too concerned for the safety of the youngsters; grey seal pups have to grow up fast and must be able to start fending for themselves at about a month old, so they grow and put on weight rapidly and quickly shed the pretty white fur coats they are born with. The little ones seemed quite happy in the water, although getting back in, fighting against the incoming waves seemed to present more of a challenge.

Two of the three young seals taking a break from swimming practice on the sea edge

The adult’s apparent slumber came to an abrupt end when something seemed to alarm them and they travelled surprisingly quickly down to the sea edge.

The seals suddenly decided to move towards the sea edge

A few metres on they stopped again

They were heading towards a young one, making me wonder if they had perhaps been summoned by it, but then as it watched from the surf of the sea edge they simultaneously stopped and flopped down again, seemingly unimpressed.

The adult seals moved down towards a young one on the sea edge

From November onwards female grey seals return to their favourite beaches to give birth and mate again. The milk of the grey seal is very rich enabling the pups to put on weight quickly. They have to grow fast as their mothers stay with them for only three weeks before returning to the sea. The mother does not feed herself whilst feeding her pup, so hunger soon drives her back to the sea. Young seal pups are covered in white fur when they’re born. Within a month or so they shed the pup fur, grow dense waterproof adult fur, and leave for the sea to learn to fish for themselves. The pup soon follows and must teach itself to hunt for food.

I have posted about grey seals several times before, my favourite being a post about the rescue of a very young pup from beneath the sea-break boulders at Rhos Point by some of the caring keepers from the Welsh Mountain Zoo. The photograph below is from that post.

Alone on the seashore the baby seal looked very small and vulnerable

Baby seal update

23 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by theresagreen in Nature, nature of woodlands, Seals

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baby grey seal, baby grey seal rescue, grey seal, guidelines on seal rescue, seals around welsh coasts, welsh mountain zoo

An account of the baby seal rescue was reported in the local paper yesterday, with a picture of a baby Grey seal, (not sure if it was actually him) on the front page, and one of my photos of the actual rescue accompanying the article.

Hopefully the article will help to raise awareness of the proximity to us of these lovely animals and of our responsibility to their welfare. The breeding season for Grey seals is underway now and will mostly go smoothly and escape our notice, but there will be times when intervention is necessary.

Help may at times be called for when it is not necessary, so the RSPCA have published guidelines on their website on how to tell if a baby seal is really in trouble and what to do in that event:

Meanwhile, happily all seems to be going well for the rescued seal pup; now relocated to the safety of the Seal Unit at the Welsh Mountain Zoo, he has been given the name ‘Jakey’ and I have no doubt at all that he is being very well cared for there.

Raising a baby seal is a huge undertaking and I imagine, very labour intensive. In a natural situation, pups would drink about 3 litres a day of their mother’s milk, which is about 60% fat, and their weight increases rapidly, they put on about 35 to 40kg in their first 3 weeks. At the Zoo, rescued pups are fed a special fish-paste diet to begin with, then will be taught to eat whole fish in around a month’s time. He will need to be carefully monitored and the aim is to release him back into the sea sometime in the New Year.

Baby seal rescue

19 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by theresagreen in Nature, nature photography, Rhos-on-Sea, Seals

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grey seals, observing seals, seals, seals around welsh coasts, welsh mountain zoo, white baby seals, white baby seals on seashore

The insistent barking of his dog alerted its owner to the plight of a young Grey Seal trapped beneath the huge boulders of the extra sea defence in front of the promenade wall at Rhos-on-Sea on Thursday morning. He put in a call that resulted in the arrival of a team from the Welsh Mountain Zoo Seal Rescue Unit to assess the situation; they will only intervene when it is absolutely crucial to the survival or well-being of an animal.

In this instance help was needed as the hapless youngster had worked its way through spaces between the rocks, ultimately becoming trapped. It was clear that the seal was unable to retrace its path back to the shore and was therefore also out of the reach of its mother. Someone said that the mother, spotted swimming offshore earlier, had been frightened away by a jet-skier, but in any case she would not have approached her baby whilst we were anywhere nearby.

The baby seal was still on shore level, but due to the slope of the boulders, from a rescue perspective he was at the bottom of a deep hole and underneath a rock. One of the team, Michelle, was small enough to squeeze down to reach the seal, but getting him out was another matter. A baby Grey Seal is born weighing in at around 14-15kg (30lbs), so no lightweight and the awkwardness of this one’s position further added to the problem. With no lifting equipment available, some creative thinking was called for and someone had the inspiration to try improvising a hoist from dog leads. There were plenty available amongst the small crowd of concerned onlookers that had stayed to offer moral support throughout the rescue and although not ideal, Michelle managed to loop one around the seal’s well-padded body and pass it up to the girls at the top, who carefully hauled him out.

The baby was finally lifted out

It was unharmed and seemed fit and healthy, but the fresh appearance of his still-attached umbilical cord indicated that it was very young – probably no more than a day or so old.

The baby seal was carefully lifted

It was placed carefully on a rock

The fresh umbilical cord shows the baby is no more than a day or so old

The baby was placed at the sea edge in the hope that its mother would return to it

It was hoped that by placing him on the shore close to the rocks that the mother would soon find him.

Alone on the seashore the baby seal looked very small and vulnerable

A LITTLE LATER

Passing the spot a short time later I heard him calling and spotted him in the water where he appeared to be struggling and was being knocked against the rocks by the waves of the incoming tide. There was still no sign of the mother; although she may have been nearby, any sight she had of people would be perceived as dangerous to her baby or herself and she would not approach, so the area needed to be very quiet.

LATE AFTERNOON

Later again I returned to the promenade and heard the loud and plaintive calls of the baby seal as I crossed the road. They seemed to be coming from very close to the spot he had originally been rescued from and as I couldn’t see him from above, I walked along the shore edge to try to find where he was exactly. I was pleased to see Michelle who had received another call reporting that the seal was still there and sounding distressed. She climbed up onto the rocks and had a look around, but the seal had now stopped calling and could have been anywhere. She told me the RSPCA would return on Friday morning and if the seal was still there that they would take it to the Seal Sanctuary to be cared for.

THE NEXT DAY

I heard from Michelle, who is Head Keeper at the Welsh Mountain Zoo who had carried out the hard part of the first rescue attempt, she said:

” This rescue was one I’ll never forget. My muscles ache, I have bruises in odd places after climbing down the rocks into a small dark place. But it was worth it! I went down again after work (about 8pm), located it and with help from passers by and this time a catch pole that I brought with me, we got the seal out. It was in the wrong place and weaker than in the morning, so I brought it back to the seal unit where it is now much quieter as it’s not hungry anymore”.

Michelle Pywell

Welsh Mountain Zoo – National Zoo of Wales

Colwyn Bay, Conwy LL28 5UY

ABOUT THE NORTH WALES SEA RESCUE CENTRE

Since the zoo opened in 1962 a wide variety of injured and orphaned native species have been brought in for care and rehabilitation. Most of this care, in recent years, has concentrated on young grey and occasionally common seals.

This work is carried out in collaboration with the RSPCA, and in 1997 the North Wales Seal Rescue Centre was opened at the zoo. The centre has two filtered pools and an indoor intensive care unit. This development, funded by zoo friends and supporters, has resulted in an improvement in the care given, and an increase in the number of animals treated, before their release back into the sea.

The RSPCA has advice on what to do if you think you may have spotted a baby seal in trouble: http://www.rspca.org.uk/utilities/faq/-/question/ENQWADStrandedSealPupsOnOwn