It’s the time of year for one of Orkney’s most fascinating wildlife spectacles – Grey seal pupping. On exposed beaches all around the coast, pregnant Grey seals come to give birth and as well as being able to see the fluffy white offspring dotted along the shore, there is also a whole soap opera of activity unfolding on the beaches during this time – fighting males, defensive females, amorous encounters, new arrivals and inevitable tragedies.
To witness all the drama you would usually have to don waterproofs and trek to a rugged part of Orkney’s coastline – a worthwhile but often cold and energetic pursuit that can cause disturbance to the seals if not done carefully. However, this year the more fair weather amongst us can sit back, get a cup of tea and log on to www.sandayranger.org where you’ll see all the action unfold live.
The project is the brainchild of Sanday Ranger, Roderick Thorne who teamed up with the RSPB’s Enjoy Wild Orkney project, and the local island community – including Sanday-based Triscom Technology Ltd, to place a camera on Sanday’s south-west coast – trained expectantly on a known pupping beach. Just in time for the new arrivals, live footage is successfully being streamed onto the web.
By logging on between 7am and 5pm you can watch all the activity throughout the pupping season. You can also see the images in Kirkwall’s Visitor Information Centre.
The Sanday Sealcam is a first for Orkney. It is also acting as a trial for a wider network of webcams and CCTV cameras that will be placed at key wildlife sites around the islands over the next three years as part of the Enjoy Wild Orkney project, funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, European Regional Development Fund and the RSPB.
Great to see such clear images on low power sitting comfortably at home. Rather blocky images on full screen mode unfortunately, and hopefully this can be improved as time goes on. Watched a pup suckling. good luck for the rest of the season, I'll be calling back from time to time to have a look. Paul.