Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 10 on 5/9/2003.

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Time to get in a flap

GRAHAM HOLLIDAY PROVIDES A GUIDE TO SPOTTING THE THOUSANDS OF GREY SEALS AROUND SCOTLAND’S SHORES

The islands and remote shores around the coast of Scotland heave with a proliferation of grey seals in October and November as the females arrive onshore to give birth to a single fluffy white pup each. With an estimated 90,000 grey seals around the coast of Scotland the chances of spotting these blubbery beauties are good.

Head to the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick which has a series of live ‘Big Brother’ cameras trained in on the Isle of May some 14km away, giving some of the best views of seal action in Scotland. The females usually give birth a day after arriving onshore and they nurse the pup for the following 17-18 days. Only 30 minutes from Edinburgh, the centre also attracts some 200,000 nesting seabirds many of which can still be seen in October.

This year the Centre announced the introduction of a live camera link with the UNESCO World Heritage site on the island of St.Kilda some 300 miles away on the west coast. The cameras afford such close views that visitors can read the numbers on the rings of birds’ feet.

“No other project of this kind currently exists in the United Kingdom, or the world,” commented Tom Brock, director of the Scottish Seabird Centre.

More than half a million people have visited the Scottish Seabird Centre since it was opened three years ago by HRH Prince of Wales.

There is also an underwater camera located just off the Isle of May. Visitors can see a variety of seabirds and seals diving and fishing. Puffins and guillemots, for e.....

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By Graham Holiday

Section : Scottish Wildlife

Page number : 22