PUP

Each year, around 80,000

people flock to the Norfolk
coast to see the breeding
seal colony on the beach.

LOVE
But does the behavior of
some tourists threaten to
drive the mammals away?
Serena Shores reports

48 www.countryfile.com

M
ingling with a brisk breeze from
the choppy brown sea is a faint
mewling sound. It is December at
Horsey Gap on the North East
Norfolk Coast and the haunting
cry is the tender exchange between a grey
seal cow and her calf, hidden in the marram
grass somewhere to my right.
Facing into the damp, salty air, the beach
below is unexpectedly covered with scores of
boulder-like shapes half-silhouetted against
the winter sun. A huge, muscular bull drags
himself into the waves, while his harem sleeps
on the sands, or suckles its young.
The seals are here because of the wide
expanse of sand at Horsey, where there are
miles of pebble-dotted beaches. A sea wall
borders the beach and beyond it there are
large dunes. The upper beach provides a safe
haven from waves, even at high tide – essential
because young seal pups cannot swim.
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SEAL SPOTTING
The colony has around 4,000 seals in all;
and the numbers are booming. Whereas in
2004 only 100 grey seal pups were born, last
winter more than 2,000 began their lives here.
Not only are the mothers of 25 or 30 years
returning annually, but new mums come into
season after four or five years and are drawn
back to the place of their birth. Luckily, there
is plenty of room for them all.
Then with the first warm spring sunshine a
smattering of harbour (or common) seals
– smaller cousins to greys – arrive for their
own summer breeding season. By June and
July, the drama is repeated as hundreds of
harbour seals give birth.
POPULAR APPEAL
The colony is one of Britain’s great wildlife
spectacles – and attracts around 80,000
human visitors to the area each year. “To
begin with, we wanted to keep the colony
A newborn seal pup rolls on its back among the
Photo: Xxxxxxxx
sand dunes. Seal pups survive on their mother’s
rich milk for the first three weeks of life; they then
go without food or water until they brave the sea
49

secret,” admits Peter Ansell, a volunteer
warden at the beach. “But word of mouth,
press reports and the power of social media
have created a frenzy around the site.”
Such is the popularity of the seals in both
summer and winter that some visitors can’t
resist the opportunity to get close to them,
often for a picture opportunity. “Although
the beach and parts of the dunes are roped
off in winter, a small percentage choose not
to obey this boundary,” says Peter.
The problem is that some visitors find the
pups irresistibly cute. “The fluffy white
coats of the newborn pups are extremely
appealing,” Peter says, “and people think
that they can touch or even cuddle them.”
Amateur photographers have been seen
poking lenses into the faces of seals, with
others allowing dogs and children to run
among the colony unchecked. Peter believes
that the culture of the camera-phone is
“partly responsible for a selfish attitude
when it comes to getting closer and closer
to all seashore wildlife”. There have been
accounts of people prodding seals and even
shoving them into the sea. One father even
had to be stopped from trying to sit a
toddler on the back of a seal pup at nearby
Winterton, apparently to take a photograph.
DISTRESSING OVEREXPOSURE
The fact that some seals make no attempt
to move when approached encourages some
visitors to get ever closer. “It makes people
think that it’s fine to crowd around them,”
says Stephanie Davis, founder of charity
Seal and Shore Watch. But the seal’s lack of
response may simply be a sign of weakness
and lethargy, often due to dehydration.
50
PLASTIC COAST
Broken or discarded plastic
trawler nets entangle both birds
and marine mammals and are a
constant menace along the
Norfolk coast. When it comes to
litter, seal pups are the most
vulnerable as they explore the
world with their mouths and will
play with and eat plastic objects
in the water and on the beach
(pictured above). They can
starve after filling their
stomachs with plastic bags.
The story of Mrs Frisbee went all
over the world on social media.
A plastic frisbee – the kind with
an open centre – became stuck
around her neck, digging in so
deeply that it almost severed her
head. Fortunately, she recovered
from her injuries.
LEFT The Horsey seal colony is roped off for its own
prtoection; tourists can enjoy this winter spectacle
from behind the boundary line
Unfortunately, such close encounters with
humans and their pets distress adult seals.
“Noise from dogs and people is terrifying,”
says Stephanie. “And a struggling animal,
be it through illness, injury or simply a young
pup in trouble, is already in great distress.”
Stephanie says rescue attempts by Seal
and Shore Watch – whose medics operate
along most of the Norfolk coast – are
sometimes hindered when curious
onlookers fail to move back and let the
medics do their jobs. “Not giving the seals
their distance risks them returning to the
water and a death sentence,” she warns.
Human intruders affect healthy seals,
too. In the spring, seals lying on the beach
are shedding their winter coats, which
means they aren’t insulated against the
cold sea. Unfortunately, if even one seal is
spooked into bolting for the water, the rest
will follow, tiring them out and lowering
their body temperature.
The same is true of weaned pups, in their
new adult coats; they come ashore to rest
and will only return to the sea when ready
– unless they are startled into fleeing. In
summer, there are sometimes so many
people on the beach that harbour seal pups
– now novice swimmers – sometimes find it
hard to locate a quiet place to come ashore.
In some cases, mother seals may flee to
the sea, abandoning their pups – which then
face possible starvation.
DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS
Some dog owners let their pets off the lead
to run among the colony, causing even worse
problems. “Not controlling dogs has sadly
proven to be more than just an issue of
disturbing the seals,” says Alison Cramp,
senior marine medic for Seal and Shore
Watch. “People have refused to call dogs
back, and seal pups have been savaged or
even killed.”
Quite apart from the risk to seals, there is
also a danger to the humans and dogs who
stray too close. Seals have the bite of a
Rottweiler and a mouth full of unpleasant
bacteria – a wound can take up to a year to
heal. And while seals appear heavy and
cumbersome on land, he warns that they
Photo: Xxxxxxxx
are actually agile and quick to strike in
self-defence. A mother feeding her pup in
particular will be ferociously protective.
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 SEAL SPOTTING

2 3
THE LIFE CYCLE OF
A NORFOLK SEAL
1 The species at Horsey are predominantly
grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), with a few harbour
seals (also known as common seals, Phoca vitulina)
joining the colony.
2 Female grey seals return to Horsey each
November or December to give birth, feeding their
pups for around three weeks with rich milk that
comprises 60% fat. Unsurprisingly, the pups treble in
weight from around 15kg to 45kg.
3 The mother then mates with at least one bull
(pictured), before abandoning her pup without
4 instruction. The weaned pup then spends three
weeks resting, without food or water, before making
its first foray into the sea for food. There they
develop a taste for herring, but will take whatever
fish species are available, from sand eels to crabs.
4 From Horsey and along the Norfolk coast, seals
make remarkable journeys around our coastline. For
instance, Blitzen (Blue Flipper Tag 160) was rescued
and released in Norfolk – and a few weeks later
turned up in Northumberland. Seals beach in March
or April to moult, shedding their thick winter coat.
And so the cycle continues, with females tending to
live for around 35 years, and males – battered by
territorial disputes with other bulls – for just 25.

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NO BOUNDARIES
Winterton, to the east, throws up different
issues. Unlike Horsey, it has no sea wall and
is just a continuous stretch of sand, making
it almost impossible to rope off sensitive
areas. The gentle rise of the beach entices
pregnant cow seals and it is easy for walkers
to stumble across a mum and pup in a sandy
hollow. These dunes also contain bulls, which
can be dangerous. Some online information
about the coastal path suggests to walkers
that they can access anywhere along the
shoreline, which people find misleading.
The wardens at Winterton encourage
people to watch the seals from viewing
platforms. They will go on to the beach to
ask visitors to return to designated paths,
but can’t enforce an exclusion zone. There
is legislation that offers a certain protection
year round, but seals don’t qualify for any
special treatment, such as officially closing
the beach during breeding season.
The tourist invasion affects other wildlife
on the beach at Winterton. Plovers and little
SPOTTING SEALS – DOS AND DON’TS
DON’T get any closer to a seal than 20m –
the length of two London buses.
20 metres
DO
keep dogs on short leads. Dogs
running up and sniffing the
animals, even on extending
leashes, causes distress.
52
MAP Britain is home to 36% of
the world’s population of grey
seals. Horsey and Winterton on
the Norfolk coast are breeding
grounds for the marine mammals
TOP Seals are very protective of
their offspring – never get
between a mother and her pup
DO
keep noise to a minimum.
Young children should be
comfortable with how to
behave. If your dog is
prone to being vocal, a
beach with seals isn’t the
best place to walk him.
terns nesting in summer are vulnerable to
the hordes of visitors, too. An electric fence
around deters people and dogs from
straying on to tern nesting sites.
PROTECTIVE MEASURES
Fortunately, sympathetic locals continue to
help out on the beaches. Volunteer wardens
from the Friends of Horsey Seals patrol the
area looking for animals in difficulty. They
are linked to the Seal and Shore Watch by a
call-out system (the number is advertised
on posters and in the press). This alerts all
the marine protection organisations in the
area and dispatches medics to help. The
rescued animals are taken to rehabilitation
centres such as the RSPCA East Winch and
Hunstanton Sea Life Centre, which have
specialist facilities to care for them.
“Education is crucial,” says Peter Ansell,
who volunteers with the Friends of Horsey
Seals. “I take groups of schoolchildren to the
beach and we appeal for volunteer wardens
to inform the public. If the colony continues
to expand, there won’t be enough people to
police it. This is where public information
and responsibility become essential.”
If you’d like to visit Horsey in winter, you
can appreciate the spectacle of the colony
without harming the seals. Follow clear
signs to viewing areas overlooking the sea,
and enjoy one of Britain’s greatest wildlife
experiences guilt-free. CF
Serena Shores is a writer, photographer and
artist based in North Norfolk with an interest in
history and the natural world. As well as writing
about the wildlife and heritage of the area, she
likes to capture local scenes in oils.
DON’T
ever get between a
seal and her pup, or
a seal and the sea.
DON’T
play with frisbees – especially
the open-centred kind,
Photos: xxxxx xxxxxx
sometimes called a flying ring.
These are the cause of untold
suffering among the seals (see
Plastic Coast box on page 50).
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