Living Seas
In November 2015, the first two grey seal pups were born on the nature reserve. The seals have successfully bred each year since and the number of pups born is steadily growing.
As the colony has grown it has become increasingly difficult to count all seals present during the more traditional surveys, as they tend to huddle closely together. Several years ago the Trust trialled the use of drones to survey the seals. This quickly proved to be an easy and effective way to gather accurate seal counts without causing disturbance – the birth of a pup was even captured (unknowingly) on camera!
In 2016, the Trust also installed a live- streaming webcam on the spit to allow everyone to get a close-up view of the seals without causing disturbance. The seal cam has also allowed us to observe the seals’ behaviours more closely and frequently.
The reasons for the increase in grey seal numbers and establishment of a breeding colony at South Walney are unknown. However, there are a number of potential contributing factors that could explain the changes:
1. Since the late 1970s, no licences have been issued for commercial hunting or large-scale control of seals.
As a result the population across the UK has increased considerably.
2. Over 90% of UK grey seals are found on rocky outcrops in Scotland, where most colonies have stabilised in recent years.
The colonies might be reaching the ideal population size for food and breeding space available. However, colonies on wide, open sandy beaches across England (like Donna Nook) have continued to grow.
Newborn grey seals have a fluffy white coat to keep them warm until they build up fat reserves
Female grey seals give birth in the autumn to a single pup and usually return to the same location to breed year-on-year. Encouragingly, we have recorded the same females returning to pup each year at South Walney.
It is possible that seals now using South Walney are younger seals that have recently started breeding and have moved away from other colonies in the Irish Sea or Scotland where availability of space, food or mates is more limited.
During one breeding season, two pups were oſten spoted close together with their own mothers but on one occasion they were also seen feeding from the same mother
3. The expansion of offshore windfarms off the coast of Walney (home to the world’s largest offshore windfarm) could be having potential beneficial ‘reef effects’.
A study in the North Sea, which tracked seals, found some seals repeatedly visited offshore windfarms and pipelines to feed. This indicates that the man- made structures could act as artificial reefs, with the seal’s prey – fish, crabs and shellfish – gathering around the hard structures.
All of these factors could be atracting more seals to the Walney area and protected beaches of the nature reserve, though this is really a subject for further investigation. However, in a time of so much doom and gloom about our seas, it is wonderful to be able to celebrate a conservation success for the seals of South Walney!
Watch our seal cam at:
www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/seal-cam
Breeding females have been identified returning each year due to their distinctive spot paterns
We have also captured large groups of kayakers causing disturbance, which has allowed us to target our work to prevent this
www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk 27
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