Blown Away!

Huge winds arrived last week, with the tail end of Hurricane Gonzalo hitting on Tuesday.  We were ready and waiting. The island embraced the weather and so did the seals, some better than others.

Female seals have been gathering on and around the Islands all week, with our FIRST pups being born. 124 pups were counted across the outer group on 24^th October with 5 on Brownsman; sadly 2 were stillborn, a common occurrence throughout the season.  Another 10 pups have since been born on Brownsman and pilot behavioral studies have been carried out over the last few days. The main study of the new pups will begin Wednesday 29^th October.

  Where are the Farne Islands?

The Farnes are situated in Northumberland off the coast of Seahouses (south of Berwick upon Tweed). The islands are spread out across 3 miles of the North Sea with the Inner Farnes closest to shore at 2 miles from Seahouses harbour.  A further 1 mile seaward you will reach the outer group.

These islands are home to the majority of pups (94% in the 2013 season being born North and South Wamses, Staple and Brownsman Island). I am situated on Brownsman Island, living in an old decommissioned lighthouse, once occupied by Grace Darling, with 3 National Trust rangers.

The Grey Seals

The seals come ashore once a year to breed and mate in large fairly dense colonies. The two species of seals found round the coast of Britain are harbour (common) seals and grey seals. The distribution of grey seals in the U.K is mainly concentrated in Scotland, the Scottish Isles and the East coast of England.

Grey seals come ashore October to late December to give birth, nurse and mate. The breeding season is very short, lasting only three weeks, compared to other species. Mothers feed throughout the summer and then fast during the whole nursing time while still providing incredibly fatty milk.

This short period means every interaction between mother and pups is incredibly important in the survival of the pups. Throughout this research I will be looking into this in considerable depth.

The Farne island grey seals are an extremely important population not only for the U.K. but for the worldwide population of this species. Averaging an estimate of 5000 seals and in 2013 a pup count of 1575 was recorded. The 2013 mortality rate was 26%, although in bad storm years the rate can exceed 50%. I will be monitoring the mortality closely and hoping for a good year.

Both Dr Per Berggren, School of Marine Science & Technology and Dr Richard Bevan, School of Biology, supervise my research and assist with ideas and guidance throughout my time on the islands.

The next blog will focus on my research, methods and aims as well as more updates on seal numbers and pup births.

For more information please contact:
Robert (Bob) Hunt
Email:  r.hunt@ncl.ac.uk
Marine Science MPhil Student

Lots of wind, not many pups

I arrived on the island late Friday afternoon. This is my second time researching on the Farnes as I researched mother pup behavior briefly for my undergraduate degree in 2012. The research and experience from this has left me wanting more from seal research and when asked to come back to Newcastle University to study for my Masters I just had to take the opportunity to work out here again.

After a year researching in America the grey seal pupping seasons is here and so am I!

I was scheduled to come over a week ago but the weather has been against us. High winds and swells have meant the boat hasn’t been able to get to shore but a small weather window has allowed me to get here. Now I’m ready to research for the next 2 months.

A little background.

My initial love for nature came from my family in England and the States and especially my Dad always being so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about it.

I graduated from Newcastle University in 2013 majoring in Marine Zoology and have since lived in America for the last 9 months studying Northern fur seals during pupping season in Alaska. I also spent a month tagging killer whales along the Pacific North West coast with NOAA.

I have an avid interest in Marine Mammals and focusing my research in this area. My supervisor Dr Per Berggren has been instrumental in helping me explore and delve into my passion with marine mammals and will also be supporting me with this research.

So what will I be writing about, studying and doing out here?

I will be writing about life on the islands, accommodation, conditions, the positives and the negatives, and all the things I will be doing here with as many pictures of pups, mothers, bulls and other wildlife.  Updates on the seal population, weather, interesting animals that visit and of course the pups. I will write pieces on Grey seals themselves, their behaviour and most importantly the breeding season, but also on my research and methods.

My main focus while out here will be to see the differences in mother/ pup pair behaviour between different shore and inland exposures and substrates and also temporally, how they differ throughout the breeding season.

I will also look at population dynamics across the islands with the help of time lapse photography and use non-invasive methods of determining energy transfer from mother to pup throughout the breeding season here on the Farnes.

The Farne Island grey seal pups often have an annual high mortality rate, so specific measurements and locations will be recorded and age and sex of deceased pups to see if any conclusions can be drawn to further understand this mortality.

High winds are expected throughout this weekend and early next week, no pups are currently on Brownsman (where I am living) but a few are already scattered across other islands. I will focus these next few days on setting up equipment and trailing methods to perfect the study once we get pups.

The next blog will give background on the island and the current seal population as well as any updates.

For more information please contact:
Robert (Bob) Hunt
Email:  r.hunt@ncl.ac.uk
Marine Science MPhil Student