First seal pups of season born at nature reserve

The first grey seal pups of the autumn have been born at Orford Ness

The first grey seal pups of the breeding season have been born at a colony in Suffolk.

Earlier this year, the National Trust said Orford Ness had become home to the county's first breeding colony of grey seals, after keeping it secret since 2021.

More pups are expected to arrive over the coming weeks, the charity said.

Matt Wilson, countryside manager for the Suffolk and Essex coast, said the first pup was seen during a routine count of the colony.

Orford Ness is a 10-mile long (16km) vegetated shingle spit which is joined to the mainland just south of Aldeburgh.

Access to the public is only available by National Trust boat from the village of Orford.

The pups keep their white fur for about three weeks before they shed it

"The team were out, as we do counts through October and the winter period when the seals come back in big numbers," Mr Wilson explained.

"We spotted our first seal pup just a couple of weeks ago.

"Last year we had our first pup right in the middle of November and this was almost 10 days earlier.

"We didn't see it for a couple of days - we did our count on the Monday and this one was spotted on the Friday of the same week."

There are believed to be more than 400 seals at Orford Ness

Rangers conduct their counts of the 400-strong colony from a distance, so not to disturb the animals.

This is the fourth consecutive year of successful breeding at Orford Ness - a former 20th Century military testing site, which is closed to visitors over the winter.

Mr Wilson said so far six pups had been spotted.

"We'll see many more over the next month-and-a-half to two months, but it is a tricky time because they are at risk," he continued.

"Where they are at Orford Ness they are right next to the sea, so things like the storm event this weekend could impact them.

"Because they're not waterproof, they have an element of risk of just being around where they are."

The pups become waterproof once they have shed their thick white fur.

Matt Wilson urged people to be respectful of seals

Mr Wilson explained another risk to the seals were human beings.

He urged anyone visiting seals across the country to enjoy them from a distance and to not use drones.

"If the adults get disturbed and perhaps panic slightly, stampeding into the water, there's a risk those pups could be abandoned," he said.

"Equally they could be injured in that rush of adults into the water."

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