Seals and Seabirds

Last week’s wanderings took place along the West and South of Kintyre where I was on the lookout for otters. Alas no otters were spotted, despite this being good otter terrain. Dawn and dusk are best times to spot them but we’ve seen them in the past in daytime, sitting eating their fish on rocks. I can’t resist sharing these photos of otters on Jura from last year.

Thankfully the seals never disappoint. You don’t want to get too close to them or they get alarmed and bolt into the sea. Not only does this ruin your photo opportunities but apparently sometimes seal pups get hurt falling awkwardly off rocks. Here are mum and pup giving each other a wee nose to nose kiss!

Seals love basking on rocks. They “haul out” of the water to rest and digest their food, as well as socialising together. There are two types of seal in Scotland, common seals and grey seals. I think these are common seals as they have more rounded heads and the eyes are close together and close to their noses. Also the young pups have brown coats and are born ready to swim. Grey seals have more flat and pointed heads and their pups are white. Grey seals also make more of a banana shape when lying on rocks. These common seals below are lying fairly flat along the rock.

There were a great variety of seabirds to be seen on Kintyre. My favourite seabird is the oystercatcher, which can be seen close to home inland too.

Ringed plovers are very attractive shoreline birds, easier to spot on rocks than on the sandy shore!

I had to look this next bird up in my bird book. It’s a sandpiper, so called because of its musical piping voice. I like the rock just behind where it is perched. It looks like a new fictional creature, a grumpalo?

I think the wee birds below are rock pipits. There were a few of them flying on and off the rocks, I think one of them a juvenile.

I saw this lovely thrush rooting about in the seaweed.

It was good to see lots of “hoodies” about. Not only children enjoying playing together again but also the hooded crow, which around these parts was black and grey.

I’m now back home, miles inland again. But oh I do like to be beside the seaside!