Seal Pups

10 days ago, 4 of us had planned to go to and see the seal pups, but cancelled our plans due to the poor weather. We decided to go individually when the time suited and it's taken this long for the weather to improve enough for me to want to visit. There was lots of water still on the local roads around that way, covering the road still in two places, no wonder there was a cliff fall at Mundesley near Cromer last week. Today was perfect for a visit as it was a balmy 13C. I was surprised to see how few cows and their pups there were on the beaches, a fraction of the number when I last visited two years ago. One of the volunteers said the storms had taken a toll. In case you're wondering, the public are nowhere near the pups, we're up on the sand dunes, but I'd taken my long lens and tripod and this image is cropped in close. I've added another in colour as an extra. The viewing platform was closed off today as a cow had decided that was the best place for her to have her pup! Always a privilege to see wildlife like this, and the pups are just sooooo cute! I preferred this shot in mono and have tagged it for the challenge, not using the theme of Festive though!!!

Day 637 / Day 4 of Plan B (for my record only)
54,661 tested positive in the UK today, including 1,576 Omicron cases (making 4,713 in total). Today people in England should work from home if they can - it was quiet on the motorways and in train stations. The PM spoke to the Nation last night, he was mainly talking about offering over 18's their booster jab by the end of Dec (provided 3 mths since jab 2) and not the end of Jan as previously announced. He said other medical appts will need to be postponed as a result. He did refer to it as being in an 'emergency battle' against Omicron. Needless to say the NHS website for booking boosters crashed shortly afterwards and has experienced problems since!  Then this morning the govt website ran out of lateral flow tests although the PM says there is a 'ready supply' of the tests (you can try getting them from Chemists). Then the UKHSA said 'due to exceptionally high demand, ordering lateral flow tests on gov.uk has been temporarily suspended to fulfil existing orders'. (This is poor planning, the govt recently changed the guidance on LFT use and on contacts of Omicron positive cases which meant that demand would soar). It later emerged that it's the ability to deliver via the Royal Mail arrangements (it's daft that we can only order 7 at a time). Laws are due to be bought in which could see people fined £10,000 if they fake a Covid result (a weak point on the Covid pass as the result is self-reported). The Health Secretary has repeated that 'we are facing a 'tidal wave of infection' and says there will be more vaccination centres and they will open 12 hours a day - 7 days a week. He said that 1 in 5 new cases is of Omicron in England and that there are 10 confirmed cases in hospital (rem 2 weeks between infection and hospitalisation). The UKHSA has estimated the current no. of daily infections at c200,000. 750 military personnel will be deployed to support the booster rollout. The PM said this morning that at least one person has died with Omicron (Rem - gaps between infection, hospitalisation and deaths) and that Omicron will be the majority of cases in London by tomorrow. There have been big queues outside vaccine centres with long waits.. 

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