Pups give seal of approval
A COUPLE of months ago I was told that I should not put a picture of a grey seal pup on the front cover of our members’ magazine.
The reason was that no pups had been born in our bit of the Irish Sea in living memory – since The Wildlife Trusts began recording there.
While greys happily give birth in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man, there was no sign of pups on the rocky shoreline at Walney Island, at the end of the Furness Peninsula.
Walney appeared to be a bit of a singles club for grey seals. It’s a nice place to rest in winter.
But as the magazine went to press I heard some amazing news – the first seal pup ever recorded on Walney was revealed.
And a couple of weeks later pup number two arrived. The Wildlife Trusts kept a lid on the news until proper protection was put in place.
It wasn’t vandalism we were worried about – the beach is miles out of the way – but nature lovers and particularly photographers could have done real damage if they had wandered too close to the pups and their mums.
It wouldn’t take much for a grey seal to abandon its offspring during the vital early stages of its life.
The pups remain on land until they have moulted their white coats and trebled their birth weight. This means a lot of feeding by parents. Once they are ready to fend for themselves they head to the sea.
The grey seal is the most common seal in the Irish Sea and can be distinguished from the common seal by its larger size and longer head with a sloping Roman nose profile.
Mainly grey in colour, with dark blotches and spots. I will consider printing a picture of a turtle dove on the front of the next magazine, so hopefully they will begin to breed in our region again.
To support the work of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. Text WILD09 with the amount you want to donate to 70070. To become a member of the Trust go to the website at www.lancswt.org.uk or call 01772 324129.
For more information about Cheshire Wildlife Trust call 01948 820728 or go to cheshire wildlifetrust.org.uk.