Seal watching

It's a view from the gods, up here,  looking down to where two slick submarine shapes rock and roll in the water. They will be a male seal and a female, the mother of the new-born pup  (extra) dozing on the shingle beach in the cove - my first such sighting this year.

Birthing time as also mating time but the mother will not stray far from her baby and she will be alert for its call when it wakes hungry. Apart from feeding and the occasional shared doze they won''t spend much time together, nor is there any paternal involvement with the infant.. In fact this male is probably not last year's partner and therefore not the father of this pup. Sometimes he will haul out nearby but there won't be any getting-to-know-you.

I'm hoping that tonight's high equinoctial tide will not be combined with a rough sea.  There is a high mortality rate for these helpless babies who have to spend the first three weeks of their lives on shore, building up the fat reserves that will allow them to survive in their watery world. That enough of them do survive is confirmed by the fact that I''ve been seal watching here, a kilometre from where I live, for the past 26 autumns.