Hundreds of St Abb's Head seal pups killed in Storm Arwen

The area has seen a huge increase in seal pup numbers in recent years

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Hundreds of seal pups have been killed at a nature reserve in the Scottish Borders during Storm Arwen.

National Trust for Scotland - which operates the site at St Abb's Head - said it had never seen damage of such scale before.

More than 800 pups are estimated to have died.

Ranger Ciaran Hatsell said the storm had hit at the "peak of pupping season" leaving a "pretty grim scene" in its wake.

The reserve has seen a huge growth in seal pup numbers over the past decade.

More than 800 seal pups are estimated to have died

Mr Hatsell said the most recent count had found more than 2,000 pups in the area but he feared more than 40% of them had been lost.

"The storm that hit was phenomenal and to hit at this time of year is really hard," he said.

"Something on this scale, a single event, I have never seen anything like it.

"To see piles of dead pups in the water - just bodies floating - was really hard to see."

As recently as 2007 there was no colony at St Abb's Head, but last year saw a record number of more than 1,800 pups recorded.

National Trust for Scotland said the storm had caused significant damage to wildlife in the area at the weekend.

"Unfortunately it appears we have lost the majority of our seal pups to this storm," it posted on Facebook.

"This is a risk grey seals take with their breeding strategy, pupping at this time of year when storms are most frequent.

"But for this kind of phenomenal storm to hit at the peak of pupping is exceptional."