Pups, Dolphins and Hedgehogs steal the show.
It's been quite a week! There have been rumours recently of a white coat pup on the island and on Tuesday it was seen hauled out by itself. Partially moulted, it was asleep in the sun. Mum was expected to appear before the rising tide reached the pup to guide it to safety. This was not to be. Within 20 minutes this young pup, possibly only a week or 2 old, had woken up and hauled itself back into the sea. White coat pups can swim, but it was worrying not having seen its mother at all. The pup does not look old enough or fat enough to have been weaned. a look out was kept with Simon, Lesley and Dan - all hoping the pup would come ashore close by, but nothing more was seen of it. Whilst looking out to sea, Lesley's keen eye spotted a pod of about 6 Bottlenose Dolphins swimming West to East. They were arcing through the water and moving at a very fast speed. Dolphin breaching clear of the water is a dlightful sight, so it was great to get any kind of picture of this spectacle.
White coat pup on island ledges (Far left) : Having a stretch (Mid left) : Hauling to the sea (Mid right) : Dolphin jumps clear of water (Far right.)
The Seal Group held their 10th bi monthly meeting. Attended by 14 people, discussions included our latest reseach findings, issues relating to feeding seals, seal disturbance and how to best provide the public with information and a good view of the seals. A highlight of the meeting proved not to be seals at all, but baby hedgehogs! Caroline has a family of orphaned hedgehogs and they all needed feeding!
Chatting after the meeting (Far left) : Feeding team (Mid left) : Hedgehogs need up to 5 pipettes of special milk (Mid right) : Well fed (Far right.)
Another highlight of the week was a sighting of Ermine - yellow hattie 49. Ermine was rescued from Weymouth and released from Port Gaverne on 27/05/05. Ermine has been spotted 4 times here recently on 20/06/05; 01/08/05; 17/08/05 and now 02/09/05. I wonder where she has been in between times? Also on the ledges was a large mid grey seal, who kept howling very loudly at any other seal that tried to haul out close by. As well as howling, this large seal's facial whiskers were thrust forward and splayed out in an impressive display. Despite the dark pelage, further inspection suggests that this may be a heavily pregnant female, which may explain the rather antisocial behaviour!
Yellow hattie 49 (Far left) : Ermine looking alert (Mid left) : Howling - amazing whiskers (Mid right) : Is this a pregnant Mum? (Far right.)
