{"id":165586,"date":"2025-12-03T06:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/165586\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T06:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:39:09","slug":"record-number-of-seal-pups-as-breeding-season-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/165586\/","title":{"rendered":"Record number of seal pups as breeding season ends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A record number of seal pups have been counted at a nature reserve as the breeding season draws to a close.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cumbria Wildlife Trust said at least 14 grey seal pups were born at its South Walney Nature Reserve near Barrow from late August.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The trust said that it had been a &#8220;really early season&#8221; this year with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cd0nk07mp3mo?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:more than 563 seals counted at the site;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">more than 563 seals counted at the site<\/a> between September 2024 and March 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Alex Wright from North West Wildlife Trusts said it had been &#8220;really special&#8221; and was &#8220;amazing to have them here in Cumbria&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The trust said the grey seal colony had grown from single figures in the 1980s and 90s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The pupping season usually runs from October to mid-November at the site, but this year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c4g9veqgz46o?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:the first animal was spotted on 31 August;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">the first animal was spotted on 31 August<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It is the 11th year in a row pups have been recorded at Cumbria&#8217;s only breeding grey seal colony.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Dozens of grey seals lying on a beach at South Walney Nature Reserve. The seals are brown and white and the sea is a bright turquoise colour. There are brown seaweed and blue rocks on the beach.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3ca09fc968edbc998ac57bd1728b6b6a.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Cumbria Wildlife Trust has special permission to fly drones at South Walney Nature Reserve [Cumbria Wildlife Trust]<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mr Wright said: &#8220;There might be a few more pups to come, we&#8217;ll have to wait and see.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said the really young pups, aged up to a month old, were &#8220;really pale, almost white&#8221; before they &#8220;moult, grow bigger and begin making their way out to sea&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"A grey seal pup. The pup is fluffy and white and is leaning over on its back and is yawning. It rests on blue, grey and dark-coloured cobbled stones and black seaweed.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2339f82a8dfed5556b8710b6ab606ae2.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The trust asked people to be respectful and keep at least 100m (328ft) distance from the pups [Cumbria Wildlife Trust]<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said it was a &#8220;privilege to see them&#8221; and was &#8220;amazing to have them here in Cumbria&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The team said while counting, they had to go undetected, so the seals could not see or smell them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Abi O&#8217;Leary, an intern at North West Wildlife Trusts, said: &#8220;The seals eat a lot of fish and when you&#8217;re surveying you can definitely smell that, it&#8217;s not the most pleasant smell.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The trust said it had set up a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk\/wildlife\/cams\/seal-cam\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:seal cam;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">seal cam<\/a> for those wanting to see the new additions to the beach.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"A grey seal pup. The pup is fluffy and white and is leaning over on its back. It rests on blue grey cobbled stones. \" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/39b63bf1278c68d5bb09f3d30b10dd51.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The trust said there could be more pups on the way [Cumbria Wildlife Trust]<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The trust urged those visiting the site to stay &#8220;at least 100m (328ft) away&#8221; from the seals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It said if the mammals became distressed, they could stampede and crush small seal pups.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Follow BBC Cumbria on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BBC_Cumbria\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">X<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bbccumbria\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bbc.in\/3yyMYUI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Nextdoor;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Nextdoor<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbcneandcumbria\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Instagram<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>More on this storyRelated internet links<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A record number of seal pups have been counted at a nature reserve as the breeding season draws&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[108187,134,111,139,69,108188,108189],"class_list":{"0":"post-165586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cumbria-wildlife-trust","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-seal-pups","14":"tag-wildlife-trusts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}