Route: Donna Nook
Area: Lincolnshire
Date of walk: 19th November 2016
Walkers: Andrew and Fiona
Distance: 1.0 mile
Weather: Sunny, very cold
Donna Nook Nature Reserve is a wonderul place to watch and photograph wild grey seals, which are Britain’s largest carnivorous mammal. Every November and December the seals come up from the beaches to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust (which must be congratulated for the way in which it manages the reserve) has created a viewing area from where the seals can be watched from behind a fence. Over the years the seals have become accustomed to having camera lenses pointed at them and can be seen at close quarters
The female gives birth to a single pup, which grows very quickly on its mother’s rich milk, and within three weeks the pup is abandoned to fend for itself. The mother then goes on to mate with a bull and returns to sea. Her fertilised egg does not start developing until later, so that the birth will be at the same time the following year
It was fascinating to watch the behaviour of these wild animals at such close quarters, wallowing in the mud, suckling, competing for space and generally providing some great entertainment
A route map isn’t really necessary but I’ve included the usual maps page in case anyone wants to know more about the location of this marvellous place
For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box
Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)
Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow
A supermoon at the start of the week - the moon hasn’t been this close to earth for nearly 70 years, and appeared exceptionally bright and large
Another photo from earlier in the week - the Humber Bridge, which we’d drive across on the way to Donna Nook
A unique road sign as we arrive at the nature reserve
The colony is just a few yards from the car park…
Grey seals galore - at the start of the week the count was 394 bulls, 765 cows and 552 pups. Over 1,000 pups are expected to be born this season
At birth a pup weighs about 2 stone but thanks to its mother’s rich milk it will triple in weight within 3-4 weeks
There’s nothing like a good wallow in the mud…
A pair of turnstones
Basking in the sun
Ropeneck has recently arrived back, and was lying next to the sign, ready to give birth in the same spot as in previous years
Cows and bulls getting friendly…
Suckling
What a wonderful place - see you next year I hope
