Every winter we find ourselves with some seals on our beach or coastline. The seals in our region give birth in winter and sometimes the mothers get stuck on our coast and then can't go back to their regular home (a sand plate some miles off the island) until their young are strong enough to take care of themselves.
This gives us islanders and our guests the wonderful opportunity to see seal pups and their elders up close, although when I say up close I mean "Keep your distance and keep it well!". Social distancing was required in the company of seals way before covid-19. Getting too close gives them stress and may even cause mothers to abandon their young, but it can also be dangerous. These seal mums are not to be trifled with. Even the young have been known to bite unsuspecting tourists! People tend to forget seals are predators and not cuddly toys.
Anyway, we are having seals on our beach again, so I went out and took some pics for you:
Before you think I broke the rules by hanging over these seals myself: I used a zoomcamera that can bring things 20x closer, and even then had to crop the images to bring them close enough to really get a look at them.
I will definitely try to see them more often the coming weeks, it such a special privilege to have them here.
Hope you are enjoying some form of wildlife wherever you are and wishing you a wonderfull and artsy day.