A lovely day out

a small section of the beach

Every year I visit the seals at Donna Nook.  It's one of their favourite breeding grounds and it's a National Nature Reserve managed by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.  It's a bleak place, always cold with sad looking mud flats but the seals find it wonderful.

pups investigating each other

The first time I went I took binoculars as I wanted to be sure of seeing at least one seal.  I needn't have bothered.  According to last week's pupdate there are at least 1499 pups, 1522 cows and 495 bulls on the beach at the moment.  I couldn't see them all but I could see far more than I could count.

They have white fur when they are born although initially it is yellow with amniotic fluid.  The mother loses up to half her bodyweight feeding her pup so they never have twins.     

Pup feeding from mum.

The site is very well managed with lots of wardens to answer questions.  There's a double fence between humans and seals so we can't touch them and they can't bite us.

And there's a bacon butty and soup wagon to create a perfect end to a freezing cold visit!

Donna Nook

 I've had one of my favourite days out last week.  I went to Donna Nook.

This little chap is just a few minutes old and is still stained yellow

At first sight Donna Nook isn't very appealing.  It's an RAF range on a salt marsh next to the North Sea.  Salt marshes next to the North Sea have very limited appeal in November!  Or rather they have very little appeal for humans.  Halichoerus grypus thinks it absolutely wonderful!

Halichoerus grypus?  That's the hook-nosed sea pig or grey seal.  Donna Nook is a favourite birthing site with over 2000 seals born last year.  The site is managed by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and, thanks to their efforts, seals and humans co-exist very peacefully.

There's a double fence between humans and seals and the seals seem to regard homo sapiens as being provided for their entertainment.  There's less than a metre between them and us, necessary to stop us touching them (our smell on a seal pup might make its mother abandon it) and to stop them biting us (their teeth are like those of dogs).  

A very special chap

There are some things which I love doing every year.  Springtime I travel the east coast main line.  In December there's the jollifications of Christmas.  And in November I go to Donna Nook.

I suppose few people ever went to Donna Nook to enjoy the view but it's a place which seems to have a magical attraction for grey seals.  Every year thousands of them come ashore from the North Sea and every year even more of them go back to the North Sea for Donna Nook is a favourite birthing site.  Over 2,000 were  born last year.

And every year I visit.  Usually I go a little later in November but yesterday wasn't too cold so I wrapped and off I went.  I could see only about a hundred animals from the path.  More will come ashore soon and vast areas of the marsh are not visible from the fenced off viewing area.  

But it's quality not quantity - and this little chap, just a few days old, definitely has star quality.  

What a month!

I can't remember when I last had such a roller coaster of a month!  

My dear friend Amy came to stay for a few days early in the month and as always we hardly stopped talking!  We went to The Deep, the wonderful marine aquarium in Hull and as always I was mesmerised by the creatures which inhabit our oceans.  I just love watching fish!  I took loads of photographs but they were uniformly awful so you won't be seeing any of them.  We also had a day at a spa which was wonderful.

I had seven meet-ups for coffee or lunch.  I think everyone is trying to get  meet-ups accomplished before December!  Most of my friends will be spending December supporting their grandchildren at school plays and carol services, acting as taxi drivers, or as elves for Santa so early socialising with friends is essential if it's going to happen at all.

I had my annual visit to Donna Nook to see the seals.  It is the most amazing sight.  I never tire of seeing this mammalian maternity site.

The bathroom floor has been replaced, not good while it was happening but it now looks much better.  

I've managed to get rid of quite a bit of "stuff" including a recliner chair so the house feels as though it has lost weight.  Plenty more still to go, though.

As I reported yesterday, I published my Kindle book. 

The month has, however, ended badly.  An old friend's son phoned to tell me his mother's life will soon be over.  At one time we were very close and our friendship was still important.  I set out to visit her (it's at least a two hour drive) but about ten minutes from home I was in a road traffic accident.  Not my fault and no-one was hurt but I'm a bit shaky.  And I feel very sad as I won't see my friend again.

Visiting a military site

This has been a good week for getting out and about - eventually.  I say "eventually" because I had planned to go with a group of friends to Donna Nook on Tuesday but when I went out to the garage the trundle truck had a very flat tyre so my friends had to go without me.

Military warning signs - maybe seals can't read!!!

I was SO disappointed as Donna Nook is one of my favourite places to go in November.  Looking at the scenery one might wonder why!  It is a bleak spot on the mudflats of the Humber Estuary and it is well littered with military warning signs for it is an RAF bombing practice area.

Most of the year it would not be a visiting place of choice but for two months in the late autumn it is a maternity ward for grey seals.  I find it amazing that they choose to give birth in such a place, often within feet of the viewing area.

I couldn't go with my friends on Tuesday but so Thursday (trundle truck repaired!)  I went on my own.  Over 1400 seals have been born this year and no bleakness, no military signs, no freezing cold wind from the North Sea, could could detract from my wonder and awe at this sight.

Mum

Pup

   No matter how cold it is, some seals want to be even colder by sitting in the water like this cow.  Her pup was on the bank safely under her gaze.  His gaze was directed more at the human beings on the other side of the fence.

And I was delighted to learn that the military are sometimes involved in rescue operations for seals who find themselves in trouble!

Donna Nook

Donna Nook!  Not a singer but a nature reserve.  

It’s used by aircraft from some of Lincolnshire’s many RAF stations for bombing practice but from October to December it’s a maternity ward for grey seals.  Hundreds of them.

Yesterday I made my annual visit and it is pure joy.  It must be one of the bleakest places out but these lovely creatures make it their home.  

Over seven hundred of them have been born there already this year and some of them seem to think humans are the best entertainment out.  

There’s a double fence to keep the seals and humans apart but it’s hard to say which species is more fascinated by the other.  Significant numbers of seals gather near the fence to watch the ever changing parade of people.  Humans come with such wonderful costumes on; some push tiny wagons with tiny humans in, others ride little machines but most just walk past for the entertainment of the seals who watch whilst doing very little.  

The seals don’t need to eat (apart from the pups suckling from their mothers) so they don’t need to take time out from the fun to find and eat food.  Life is pretty good when you are a seal - you just wallow in the water or mud or you lie and think.  Not a bad life.