Kintyre has seen a fair few new arrivals since we last wrote! Firstly, there have been (at least!) ten new pups, with mum and pup pairs observed at almost all of field sites here in Kintyre. And secondly, the arrival of myself, Emily, as another short term field assistant. I’ve been working with the permanent field assistant here, Izzy, for the previous few weeks to gain experience in the collection of seal photo-ID data and to become familiar with the field sites. I work on maintaining the Kintyre photo-ID database back at SMRU, so it has been a great eye-opener to get out of the office and see the sites, the seals, and to see ‘behind the scenes’ how the data is collected. On my return to SMRU I will now be processing the 2018 photographs, updating the catalogue and adding in any new (very cute!) additions from 2018.
During the previous two weeks I’ve seen pups at 4 of the 5 field sites, with Yellow Rock the only site where pups have not been observed. This is traditionally a male dominated haul out with few females being observed at this site. Conversely, we have seen the highest number of mum pup pairs at the nearby Muller Island site, observing up to four pairs hauled out in close proximity to each other, almost like a nursery! It’s interesting watching the pup behaviour, resting, suckling, and swimming and attempting to keep up with mum.
Now that some of the pups are two to three weeks old it’s noticeable how their confidence is growing and they’re entering the water alone more, with mum leaving them alone for longer periods of time. It is not long before they will be weaned and separate from mum completely!
Written by Emily