Not all safe

Our newest arrival

A 'Seals eye view' of Brownsman cottage

Andrew (left) and Richard (right) capturing the latest from the seal colony

An early start and thankfully the storm has eased and moved off south down the North Sea. Clear skies and calm conditions greet us, as Saturday morning begins... First thing first, its to the north beach colony and what has happened to the Seal pups overnight? Has the storm claimed any lives? 

One, two, three, the head count of the pups begins. Nemo is present, that's a good start, but Lucky, where is Lucky? No this could be bad news... relief. Lucky is with its mum. So far, so good. It was obvious that the majority of the colony escaped the worst of the storm, but not all are present. Sadly it appears we've lost one pup to the storm the previous evening. It's sad and we'll never know how it was lost, as it will just become another statistic for the Farnes as the islands loose 50-55% of all the pups born in the first three weeks of life. It's a heavy toll as its a harsh existence being born on these rugged islands in the North Sea in late autumn. However life goes on and its pleasing to see that most survived and the storm has eased.

After the head count, Nemo is checked - still small, still underweight, but why? Suspicions may be that Nemo's mother is being bullied off the colony but its difficult to judge at this early stage. Theres no such worries about Lucky, he's growing up big and strong. Thereafter the team rolled back into action, with more filming and editing and a slight worry that we may be starting to run out of food, as its been some time since we've been able to escape this rock, due to the stormy seas. Its a challenge not only working out here, but also living out here, but the Autumnwatch crew have adapted very well (and that's just to my cooking) and we are loving every minute of it. As for tomorrow, its seal count day across all the islands on the Farnes and who knows what's out there...