Grey Seals are less apparent around the island in June as they feed up ready for the pupping season, but they are definitely making a splash this week.
Some exciting findings are coming through from our newly established link with the Cornwall Seal Group. Sue Sayer established the group in 2004 and since moving to Cornwall in 1991 she has spent thousands of hours remotely observing grey seals in the wild, which has given her an unparalleled insight into the behavior of these curious and playful marine creatures. Sue is able to recognize hundreds of individual seals by eye. There is no fancy recognition software here, just hard work and perseverance. Through pure determination and an itimate knowledge of her animals, Sue has been able to match up seals that use the beaches on the north Cornwall coast with those using the Pembrokeshire Islands.
Sue has worked with Wildlife Trust staff on Skomer and they have already confirmed 36 photo ID matches between Cornwall/Devon and the island and now that Ramsey have been donated a fantastic new camera, we are excited to get involved too.
Sue takes up the story….
“Scanning through Lisa’s first batch of 9 photos, I didn’t see any potential matches. Keen as ever, I looked again – still no matches, so I decided a ‘fine toothed comb’ approach was needed. On almost the last photo of the third trawl through Lisa’s photos, I suddenly spotted a familiar mark in a familiar place. Admittedly, it was very small but it was enough! It immediately reminded me of one of the net entangled seals that visit the mainland haul-out. Sure enough, closer inspection revealed that this seal did indeed have an encircling neck mark… so I was hooked and on a mission.
To confirm a definite photo ID, at least five different patterns must be matched, preferably on more than one side of the seal, with the rest of the seal being consistent too. DP413 (nicknamed Dash) was first identified in Cornwall in 2010”
On the 27 February 2012, Dash was hauled out on the north Cornish coast, east of St Ives. He was next spotted on Ramsey’s haul-out beach, known as the ‘Bachelor pad’ on 12 April 2012. He was then back in Cornwall by November, so we know he has completed at least one return journey from Cornwall to Ramsey and back during 2012.
Sue’s endless enthusiasm then provided a second match. DP675, now nicknamed ‘Bikini’ is another young bull seal. He was seen hauled-out in Cornwall on 19 April this year and then was recorded on the ‘Bachelor Pad’ at Ramsey on 15 May 2013. Perhaps he moulted in Cornwall and then moved to Wales for the summer?!
Here’s to many more matches when the pupping season begins in mid-August.
Lisa is one of the RSPB Wardens on Ramsey Island