Mother love

As part of Chris's birthday celebrations, we drove to  Donna Nook on the north-east Lincolnshire coast, to visit the breeding colony of grey seals. We knew it was going to be busy, but hadn't anticipated the volume of cars and people, and very nearly turned tail. I'm so glad we didn't.

We had a wonderful few hours with the seals, watching a whole series of dramas unfold. Newborn babies with pure white fur and liquid black eyes; older babies with spotted coats, so spherical that they could hardly roll over; babies suckling; bulls fighting viciously to defend their harems; stillborn pups being consumed by gulls and lots of apparently contented seals just resting on the dunes and mud. It was smelly and noisy, the cries of the baby seals sounding uncannily like human babies. I was particularly touched by the bond between mothers and their babies.

The other thing that particularly surprised me, was the rather gory sight of turnstones feeding on the afterbirths. Apparently this behaviour was first observed four years ago out on the marsh, and now the birds are brave enough to come right up to the fence to make use of this very nutritious food source. Nothing's wasted in nature...