Friday 31 October 2008

There's a storm brewing...


Thursday arrived and the last day of the live broadcast for the week for the team. However it wasn't about the team this time, but what was developing on the north beach colony on Brownsman. One's a handful, but four... its rarely been seen before (and never filmed - nice work Autumnwatch) and sadly, one which may not end on a happy note. The fact four pups are attempting to suckle from one cow is exceptional in Grey Seals and it will raise more questions than answers. Under normal circumstances the mother would defend her own pup and have a 'zero tolerance' attitude on all intruders. Sadly this does not appear to be the case and only time will tell if this will have a disastrous consequence on her own pups and indeed the three 'opportunists'. Watch this space...

As for the rest of the pups, Nemo snuggled into a rock out of the wind, and appeared to enjoy all the shenanigans around him (he even crept into the above photo in the top left corner). As for Lucky, he just keeps putting on weight and enjoying the comforts of an attentive mum (top marks to her). Before I go on, I had better explain all the terminology so everyone can keep up with my ramblings. A female Grey Seal is known as a cow, males are known as bulls and the young are pups! Away from the Seal biology lesson, the colony was generally quiet with a few new arrivals although the bulls are starting to rear their ugly heads so watch out for tensions to increase and fights to start. Add the spice of a possible Northerly gale forecast for the next twenty-four hours, anything is possible. There's never a dull moment in a Seal colony.

Away from the seals, the birders amongst the team rejoiced as the wind (at long last) switched from the west to the east bringing with it a lot of small passerine birds including Redwings and Blackbirds. However two Short-eared Owls and a stunning Long-eared Owl brightened up the day. Following a seamless 'live' link to the islands early evening, we settled down with a whiskey to celebrate sound recordist Andrew's birthday (21 again) and the success of the first weeks filming. Then the wind start increasing....


2 comments:

Autumn Watch's Biggest Fan said...

Then the wind start increasing....

What does this mean? I guess the whiskey had taken affect by 02:02!

Keep up the good work!!

desperatefishwife said...

Thanks for the fantastic blog Dave,I do hope the pups will find their own birth mums soon.
I'm a huge fan of both spring and autumnwatch but I'm finding this one quite poor. The producers appear to have their priorities wrong.They gave us an eternity on crane flies and a fleeting couple of minutes on the Farne islands (sorry if I've offended lovers of daddy long legs ). Gordon and the team,to be honest, is bringing us the best wildlife pictures and it is the best spot on the programme. We need more air time for the Farnes !