Today we have some marine mammal photos taken by Marcel van Oijen. Marcel’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. Here’s a screenshot of the site, the island of Inchkeith:
Seal pup counting on the island of Inchkeith
Marcel van Oijen
The island of Inchkeith lies a few km from Scotland’s capital Edinburgh in the Firth of Forth, the sea-arm to the north. The last human to live on the island, the lighthouse-keeper, left in 1986. (The lighthouse is now controlled remotely from Edinburgh as are most lighthouses in Scotland.) Wildlife has since come back, and there is now a thriving colony of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) producing around 900 pups each year. I took the photos below during the pup count of 29 November organised by the Forth Islands Heritage Group of volunteers.
This is near the harbour where we arrived, and we had to be careful not to get too close. Fortunately the female was busy keeping the male away from her pup. Cannibalism does happen occasionally.
Looking back to the harbour with the second group of volunteers just arriving. Note the many seals on the beach and in the water
Mating couple. The female life cycle is intense: a few weeks after giving birth and after the pup is weaned, they can be impregnated again:
This pup has moulted (i.e., lost its fluffy white baby-coat called the lanugo), so it will be three to four weeks old. At that age pups will be weaned and have to fend for themselves.
Two young pups who have just begun moulting, starting from the head:
Female seals carefully watching us:
This pup is nearly done moulting, some fluff left on top:
A moulted pup with an unusual colour, not the standard dappled grey:
Overview of ‘our’ patch of the island where we counted around 200 pups:
The most affectionate mother we saw on the island. She occasionally rolled on her back with eyes closed but always kept patting her pup with her front flipper:
Looking back to Inchkeith with fond memories!:
That’s close to where Sweno was told to cough up ten thousand dollars 🙂
Yes, the island of Inchcolm (‘St. Columba’s island’) that appears in Macbeth is about 10 km west from Inchkeith. It’s one of the other islands in the Firth of Forth where wildlife is being counted – I took photos of seabirds, cavespiders, hibernating moths, and plants there.
Cave spiders – so Robert the Bruce in addition to Macbeth!
Yes. And I think it’s there in the map above. It’s the northernmost of the three islands to the left.
Thanks for this virtual biology adventure – I assume it was cold, but only because of the cloud cover – I love the name Inchkeith – I bet it sounds as good
It was cold but not freezing – it rarely does around here. Still, good for the youngest grey seal pups that they had their very warm lanugo coat. Common seals (= harbour seals), the other main Scottish seal species, get their young in the summer, so their pups are born without lanugo.
And yes, Celtic names tend to sound beautiful! The ‘Inch’ in Inchkeith means island, just like the ‘Innis’ in Yeats’ famous poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” that Jerry mentioned two weeks ago.
Hence the surprising fact that i learnt at school – the firth of Forth is just six inches long. Inchkeith, inchcolm, inchgarvie, inchmickery, alloa inch and tullibody inch.
“Inchkeith lies … in the Firth of Forth.” Say that five times fast.
What a nice trip!
Thanks for the photos and excellent commentary!
Many of Scotland’s lighthouses were built by the Stevenson family – Robert Louis Stevenson is the most famous member, although not a lighthouse builder himself of course. His cousin was the father of another writer, D E Stevenson, who was mocked by her family for taking up such an insubstantial occupation. Her books (and those of RLS) have outlasted the lighthouses! (Her romantic comedies Miss Buncle’s Book and Miss Buncle Married are both highly recommended for those who enjoy the genre. They are available to read online.)
Great pictures. And what a wonderful experience it must have been.
After reading that hooded seals only nurse their pups for 4 days before total weaning, I was curious about grey seals, so I looked it up. So it seems that the mothers only nurse for 3 weeks, but they fast the entire time. And then, after they wean the pups, it’s the pups’ turn to fast, for about a month before they’re ready to go in the water. Amazing that the mothers can convert so much of their bodies into milk without any food intake and that the pups can likewise physically mature while fasting.
Wonderful photos. Thank you!
They’re eyes so wide and looking out at the world make it seems like they’re very concerned about something.
Beautiful photos! Cute seal pup!
Amazing seal photos, thank you.. I don’t see them on the land very often, but I’ve seen them swimming in the Forth many times.
A friend has a holiday home right on the beach at Lower Largo, northeast of Inchkeith, and sees them a lot. The most spectacular time was an occasion when a herd of seals seemed to have chased a shoal of fish into the bay and were having a feeding frenzy.
Lovely, thank you!
Inchkeith looks to be out in the firth nearly opposite Portobello, where my father was born.