As with most of the holidays Mrs PR and myself take, they very much a relaxed time, choices often made on the weather for the day ahead, plus how our general mobility is.
It was intended to visit the Cornwall Seal Sanctuary,at the top of the Helford River before it narrows to become a river, it was pure chance that following on from Cornwall Sept 2024 Pt 4 Godrevy
The Ordnance Survey map below should give an idea how far up the River Helford Gweek is.
The village of Gweek itself is a fascinating village, and being on the upper reaches of the Helford there is a boat yard where a lot of vessels are maintained, and in varying states of repair.
The seal sanctuary earlier this year made the former humboldt penguin home, a new home to Atlantic Puffins. Click HERE to read the press release about Atlantic Puffins at the sanctuary. If you want to see last years visit to the seal sanctuary, and see the mentioned humboldt penguins, you can read that in Cornwall Wildlife 2023 pt 4; Cornish Seal Sanctuary, last years visit.
The day started with a rather red looking sky... Shephard's warning etc....
while colourful, the day did stay fine
using the Star6 filter
and the early morning sun casting a lovely glow over the beach
After checking in at the reception, it was a quick browse around the gift shop and info points before hitching a ride from the reception up to the sanctuary.
It was getting near to feeding time, all daytime feeding sessions are accompanied by a very informative talk on the seals, the care and other vital and interesting pieces of information. I'll cut the blurb, and just share the photos and links to some Flickr video links.
Watch the fish....
Yes, there's always a hopeful gull...
and the nursery pups...
and the Atlantic Puffins
There is also conservation work with beavers, and while we didn't expect to see any, this is the rehoming enclosure used to rehabilitate the beavers.
More seal activity, someone looked bored....
until the camera was pointed at her....
A buzzard appeared in a paddock atop the hill
more seal activity, this time from the underwater viewing gallery
Click the projector to see a short video of a seal viewed in the underwater gallery.
Back at base, the autumn high tide
and the setting sun
Part 6 to follow soon, if you haven't become bored with it all...
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
Nice sunrise and sunset photo's Mike. The seal photo's through the glass came out well. Always nice to see puffins
Excellent shots Mike. Loved the photos of the seals, they are such amusing characters. Have the Puffins had some kind of contact with an oil slick? They look rather stained. I like the seal swimming upside down .. I assume it was, or was you doing headstands ... . Not bored at all, I enjoyed having a look around the seal sanctuary free of charge ... . It has me feel like fish for tea ... .
SnappyMac said:Nice sunrise and sunset photo's Mike. The seal photo's through the glass came out well. Always nice to see puffins
Thank you Snappy.
One thing I have noticed with the R5 vs the 5D4, is the improved clarity through glass without the need for a CP filter. However, the CP is necessary to reduce reflections.
The puffins have a variety of health and welfare issues, hence the permanent moult/dowdy plumage look. Other than that, they look happy and always extremely alert when one of the staff approach. Potential food for the puffins.....
The bored and fed up seal, I've just created a gif, which unfortunately doesn't work on Flickr, so once I've trimmed it, I'll share the gif here.
Thank you BD.
The seals are very inquisitive, and intelligent. I've copied and pasted part of the text in my reply to SnappyMac along with a little more info.
The puffins have a variety of health and welfare issues, hence the permanent moult/dowdy plumage look. Other than that, they look happy and always extremely alert when one of the staff approach. Potential food for the puffins..... If you click HERE you can read about the puffins and their backgrounds which attribute to the dowdy/moulting plumage look. Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture them on video, but watching some of them, you can see they have potential nervous conditions. Other than that, they seemed happy in their new environment and the staff do their utmost to ensure the puffins welfare is top notch.
The bored and fed up seal, I've just created a gif, which unfortunately doesn't work on Flickr, so once I've trimmed it, I'll share the gif here. I really should have taken a video, the sudden change of expression from bored and fed up, to, "ooo, I have an audience" as I moved the camera. They're not daft.
Incidentally, all photos and videos on this day were taken using the R5 & 24-240 lens.