A dip in the harbour.

Well it is all change here. Today was the warmest day for a long time out on the island illustrated by the fact that most island residents were in shorts for at least part of the day. Only a few days ago we still had fires lit, were wearing thermals and hats and had to resort to a medicinal whisky each night to prevent hypothermia. Suddenly warm weather has arrived and so have the visitors.
                                       
 Being on the east coast this means a bit of fog in the mornings when the top of the mainlight kept appearing and dissappearing but once it had burnt off then things turned hot.

 The effect has been immediate as last night we had 11 moths in the moth trap compared to the 3 moths for the previous 6 weeks.

 The cliff nesting birds incubating eggs on the cliffs had to put up with the baking until their partner gave them a break. It was great to see they relieved of their duties and drop down onto the sea from their ledge and wash clean their plummage and cool down.This guillemot was panting with the heat while the razorbill below it was suffering from having a nesting ledge lower down the cliffs (raining guano).

It has also changed the researchers behaviour, phone calls can be made outside, we have even eaten tea out-side twice and ...

....tonight a (very quick) swim in the harbour.

 Anything the Farnes can do we can do as well.
It is peak seabird season with so much to see and with this weather set to hold a bit longer, its a great time to visit the island.

The friendly seals....

During the Autumn and Winter there can be as many as 4000 seals around the island. During the summertime there are a lot less but a few youngsters hang around.

Curious seals will often follow the May Princess into the harbour. Last Sunday the May Princess was due in. David had found a seal at Kirkhaven on the beach. Once we had established it was healthy, we decided to push it off just in case it panicked when the boat came in. The seal reluctantly disappeared.

David stands with the seal at his feet

While I was was walking along the path at the top of the lower landing I saw what I thought was the same seal hauled out. It was happily lying down and people were photographing it while it basked in the warm sun

Close proximity to a seal - A fine way to connect with nature

Back at the top landing just as the boat was about to leave a seal was really showing off. It was porpoising in the water and ignoring the procession of people it clambered onto the land and was shaping up to go to sleep.

The seal ignores everyone and come ashore


The seal did not mind the close up shots - Seal on right

This picture was ruined by the expanded polystyrene on it's head

Being so close up was a good chance to study the animal closely - See the broken whiskers

Normally seals hiss and snort when approached. They do not like to turn their back on you until they know they can escape safely. Seals that are this tame are quite uncommon. The seal was enjoyed by everyone who was on the May Princess that day.

It was not until the Princess had gone that we realised there were two seals. The animal on the bottom landing was present the next day when the Seabird Centre Group

This seal was the welcoming committee for the Seabird Centre the next day

There are plenty of seals to be seen around the Isle of May NNR at the moment. They are quite easy to see hauled out on the rocks, whether you are on the island or from the boat. You won't always be as lucky as this though.