Page 114 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #04

Tales
Ta l

from the
h h h

A WILD WORLD OF
RIPPING YARNS

WHO?
TIM PRESTON
isakeen wildlife
photographer
based inWellington,
Shropshire.
He spends his spare time
observing his local wildlife.
WHAT?
GREY SEALS
WHERE? Welcome to world:
DONNA NOOK, a newborn pup huddles
LINCOLNSHIRE up to its mother. Right: Tim
captured the moment the pup
was born with his long lens.

TIM FINALLY VISITS DONNA NOOK

TO PHOTOGRAPH GREY SEALS, AND
WITNESSES THE MIRACLE OF BIRTH.

onna Nook, north Lincolnshire, I had little idea what to expect from Donna sounded as if they were shouting “Mum”
isaplace I’ve been wanting to Nook, and I’d assumed that I’dhave to scout like children in a playground.
visit to photograph grey seals for around to find the residents, but as I came And that would have been that,had Inot
many years. But it’s a long way over the brow of the dune, I was stopped in chanced upon one final spectacle just as I
Dfrom my home in Wellington in my tracks – seals were everywhere. was leaving – a group of 40 or 50 people
Shropshire to this national nature reserve There was a young pup lying on the sand had gathered on a spot on the path close to a
onthe southern side ofthe mouth ofthe almost directly in front of me, its mother on female on the other side of the fence, and I
Humber, and somehow I’d always found her side close by, while further away two bulls realised she was getting ready to give birth.
a reason not to go. This year, however, I were gearing up for a fight. All the seals were I don’t know how long she’dbeen in
was determined to make it forthewinter separated from the onlookers by a wooden labour, but soon after I arrived the pup
pupping season. fence, and they stayed as close or far away started to show, and from then it was less
After leaving at 6am on a cold, dark and from it and the crowds as they wished. than a couple of minutes for it to leave the
drizzly morning in late November, I arrived I stayed severalhours, wandering up and world of its mother’s womb and enter ours.
in the car park just before 10am, and down the beach path with the hundreds of The amniotic sac hit the sand intact, and
was immediately surprisedby how many other peoplewho had madethe trip. I was the pup almost immediately burst out from
people were milling about. I normally try surprisedby the human-like expressions it, staring back at us with its huge black
to avoid crowds, but I wasn’t going to have of the seals and the way they cuddled their eyes. With the long, 600mm lens on my
that choice today. At weekends, one of the pups. They even appeared to be dreaming camera, it felt like I was practically sitting
wardens told me later, it’s not unusual to as they slept, their flippers flapping as if next to the pair of them.
have 7,000 visitors a day. they were swimming. The pups’ barks After that, I realised it had been several
I took the short walk along hours since I had first arrived,
the boardwalk to the beach just “THE GREY SEALS APPEARED TO BE and that I was now very hungry
200m away. There was a van – I just had to hope that the
selling food but I decided to DREAMING AS THEY SLEPT, THEIR snack van was still open...
resist its charms, at least for
T m Preston now – I was here for the seals, FLIPPERS FLAPPING AS IF THEY O Do you have a tale that you would like
WERE SWIMMING.”
to share? If so, please email a synopsis of
not the sausages!
your idea to james.fair@immediate.co.uk
114 BBC Wildlife April 2018