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| A second-coat pup coming in to help... |
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| ...to start sweeping...good lad! |
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| Fulmars meet Seal pups |
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| Battered and bruised Staple Island Seal colony almost complete |
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| The boys in final day action |
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| It must be love. Bull and Cow seal share a moment |
Thursday 6th December comments: Will we make it? The question that has been captivating the Farnes in the last 24 hours, as today, we spent (potentially) our last full day on the Farne Islands of 2012. However the unpredictable weather keeps on switching and we are now in the hands of the gods… will we make it off? With hotels booked, rangers travel booked (heading as far as Hertfordshire and Isle of Scillies), we hope so, we really do.
However today we remained focused and got on with last minute jobs including a final check of the Seal colonies, which was completed despite a below freezing wind-chill. Today’s Totals included 24 new pups on Brownsman, 11 on Staple Island and another 12 scattered across three other islands.
This brought out autumn total to a very impressive 1,542, higher than this time last year when we departed in early December. We’ll hopefully make another trip out to the islands for a final count in a few weeks time to count any late born pups, as we suspect our population will reach 1,600, the highest since the early 1970’s.
Now back to that weather. It’s an early start (6am) and we’ll hopefully see the boat by 8am. However the weather has teased us all season and I suspect it’ll have one more trick up its sleeve as get ready to leave. Mainland here we come. Or do we?......
1 comment:
Safe trips home to each of you.
Thanks for the excellent reports throughout the season.
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