Hi everyone, it’s LTV Rob here again. I had
an amazing summer season on Skomer - it came to a close far too quickly!
Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to stay on Skomer in October to help
finish off the seal monitoring on the main island. You visit some wonderful
places to observe the seal beaches and the Wick was no exception - the high
vantage point became one of my favourites on the island and I soon found myself
visiting as often as possible. A few of the pups stood out as particularly
special, so I thought I’d give you a snapshot of life on the Wick for these
little pups.
The first pup on the Wick was always going to be a special one.
It was born on 1st September, with pups 2 and 3 following close
behind. It was the 40th pup to be recorded on Skomer, and so ‘Pup
40’ it became. This little guy stayed in the same location on the beach for
most of September, suckling from mum and slowly growing larger. Mum disappeared
after a couple of weeks which is completely normal – but pup 40 wasn’t going
anywhere. It wasn’t until 29th September that it fully moulted and
could be classed as a weaner, meaning that it had successfully survived the pup
stage. When I left the island on 15th October, this pup was still there
– it seemingly hadn’t yet found the energy to move…!
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| Pup 40 at 4 days old and a bit sleepy! |
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| Pup 40 at 32 days old... and far too fat to move! |
Pup 43
On 7th September, I was sat
above the Wick doing the seal count as usual. There were 4 females present but
only 3 pups. I remember thinking that the extra female looked ready to give
birth and indeed the other mums seemed to be giving her space. Just as I was
about to leave, I raised my binoculars to take one last look and out popped the
pup. The female immediately headed for the water and dipped her head under the
surface for around 5 minutes. Meanwhile, the pup lay on the beach slimy and
immobile, and it was a long two minutes before it finally raised its head. I
was absolutely elated and told (quite literally) everyone about it!
Though mum wasn’t seen for the next few days,
the pup seemed a healthy size. It wasn’t until 5 days later that it became
clear that something was wrong. The mum still hadn’t
been spotted on the beach and the pup had stopped gaining weight. By 6 days the
pup was crying and being repeatedly driven away by the other mums – they had
their own pups to watch out for. The following day we descended for a full site
visit, and I suspected what we’d find. Sure enough, Pup 43 hadn’t made it. We
can’t be certain why, but it was a bad sign that the mother headed straight for
the water after birth – it’s possible that she never returned. Whilst it was
sad to see this happen to a pup I had followed so closely, it must be
remembered that this is natural. Pups commonly die on the island each year – it
sure is a difficult life for them.
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| Pup 43... 5 seconds after birth |
Pup 192
September progressed with the number of
pups on the island rapidly increasing. The end of September saw the season peak
on the Wick, with the total number of pups up to around 16. By the first week
of October, it was time for another site visit. Alongside the pups we expected to
find was a newborn – Pup 192. Although he was likely born on the previous
evening, he did his best to make himself scary, but we weren’t fooled…!
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| Decending into the Wick for a full site check |
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| Pup 192 |
I kept a special eye on this little guy for
the last week or so that I had left on the island. Although mum was visiting,
192 stayed relatively small. The night before I left, I got my final view of
him and he was still fairly undersize. Survival definitely hung in the balance
– we can only hope he made it to weaning.
I hope that these snapshots have given you an
insight into the lives of these pups. What really struck me is that it’s by no
means plain sailing – whilst many pups are able to wean, some are not so lucky.
They have to contend with adverse weather, abandonment and even attack from
males. In addition, human are also impacting their survival. For example,
recent studies have shown that contaminants in the water can be passed to pups
in the mother’s milk. As well as this, disturbance, entanglement in marine
rubbish and illegal shooting are all threats that these seals face. It is only
with stringent monitoring and protection that Grey Seals will maintain their populations
amid such dramatic changes to our oceans. I feel extremely privileged to have contributed
to this monitoring on Skomer – they truly are amazing mammals.
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Rob Knott
LTV 2019
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