Colony counting continues

Staple Sound looking calm

Welcome home to Brownsman cottage

Bull seal checking out his domain

North Wamses looking a lot quieter

...and second coat pups dreaming of fish

Friday 30th November comments: Today brought a bit of respite from the bitterly cold northerly winds, as the weather eased and the seas calmed. This gave us the window of opportunity to re-enter the seal colonies and check out what has been happening since our last visit, last weekend.

The birth rate has slowed (as expected) whilst some colonies are almost done; the North Wamses feels deserted compared with the thriving metropolis it was a few weeks ago. Once the young pups are old enough to fend for them selves (only three weeks of age), the females depart for the open sea and gradually the young pups also move off, leaving the islands empty for another year.

Today produced 77 new pups bringing our total to an impressive 1,495 with the top four island colonies including:

Staple Island 443
South Wamses 375
Brownsman 319
North Wames 276

This brings our autumn total to 1,495 – an impressive total by the Farnes and are we going to eclipse last years total of 1,555? Time will tell.