OrcadesDays

By Orc2009

Grey seal pup having a bit of an old snooze

I went over to Flotta and a walk about a peninsula called Golta. The grey seals are pupping at the moment. There were about 50 young pups in all. Near the pier is the remnant of a cinema built during the war for the personnel stationed on the island. They got bored so planted trees around the cinema and it is a little wood now, useful for birds. I found a couple of female migrant blackcaps there, hunting together They were possibly sisters. Goldcrests were in there too. More here.
I'm late posting because I was at a talk by wildlife artist Chris Rose in the St. Magnus Centre. His told us of an expedition he was on to South Georgia to paint albatrosses and others as part of a campaign to save albatrosses from destruction on 80 mile long fishing lines etc. His photographs and paintings were really good. He also showed us a protoptype of a kind of lure which, in tests, has reduced albatross deaths by 100%. Hopefully it will be adopted by fishing fleets who, after all, lose money every time they hook a bird rather than a tuna.

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