Beautiful Bardsey Bulls

Maintaining a sleepy watch over the haul-out.

You have already seen pictures of the pups and their mums. Now take a look at some of the big adult males - the bulls seals which are patrolling the breeding grounds.These are heavy animals -- with thick necks bearing spots and scars and they smell like hot tar (the kind that is applied to mend holes in the road) at this time of year. There are occasional tussles between some of them but rarely anything that an be called a battle. Most of the time they are just somewhat sleepy and occasionally they approach the females (mainly in the water) to see if they are receptive to mating yet. See interpretation below. 

Lounging on the rocks

A little mid-water sparring between two bulls.

A younger and sneaky male

A handsome younger bull keeping out of trouble.

Another mature bull in his prime does his very sleepy best to keep most of his body out of the water for as long as he can on the rising tide.

The love song of the grey seal

The grey seals are very vocal and their calls can be heard from far away across the island, especially the undulating and rather sweet yodeling of the females. 

It is not clear to me why they make these sounds. In some cases it seems to be one female telling another to move away from her chosen haul-out spot - its a question of personal space and favoured rocky seat - and this is sometimes accompanied by some flipper waving (which looks comical until you take into account the long sharp claws on the end of the fore-limb).

Bulls have deeper guttural voices. They snarl and gargle and one often observed conservation is the one between the amorous bull and the female he is wooing.

This goes something like this:

He swims up to her and says: "Snarly, snarly wharly, gargle blub blub blub?" [The blubbing is because during the conversation he puts his head underwater and is simultaneously blowing bubbles.]

She replies: 'Whhoooo, whooooo, whooooo, whooooooooo!'

Rough [unofficial] translation:

Him: 'How about it babe?'

Her: 'NO!'

(Typically the females will not mate until their pups are weaned but this does not stop the bulls ‘trying it on' from time to time.)’. 

'blub blub blub'

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And finally here is a picture of the dear old Bird Observatory where generations of field researchers have stayed over the years. The Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory runs its own blog which is beautifully illustrated with photographs each day HERE

Bardsey Views 2015

Here are a few more images from Bardsey, the Island of Twenty Thousand Saints.

The view across Bardsey Sound to the Llelyn Peninsula

A grey heron leaves its rock-pool hunting ground.

A swallow looking south

A sparrowhawk flies over

Red-billed Choughs foraging in the meadow

A raven calls from the rocks at the top of the shore and his mate answers

The Bardsey bull

Cormorant on a silver sea

The swallows gather to begin their migration .... for it is summer's end.

Bardsey Slipway

A wheatear - one of the common birds of the island's meadows

The oldest house

Bye bye Bardsey

Seal fashions and ghost seals

A mother seal delicately wraps some seaweed around her nose.

Out on Bardsey Island the seals are wearing seaweed and some have adopted stunning eyebrow enhancement this season! 

Somewhat boho application of seaweed here by this large bull seal

Beuatiful big eyebrows are the look for this young mother (pup's behind behind on the right)

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The 'ghost seals' are small seals - intermediate in size between pups and adults - with a pale somewhat reddish pelage.

They were pups last year. Their pale fur and dark-ringed eyes give them a somewhat ghost-like appearance, but really they are the Bardsey seals big success story. They have survived the first really tough year of life and returned to the seal rockery. They are the next generation.

Bardsey Seal Nursery 2015

There is a small island somewhere-far-away where, as Autumn sweeps in, the seals arrive for the annual soap-opera of their breeding season. There will be arguments, there will be births, some will survive... and some will not.

First the big males start to patrol parts of the rocky shores and soon after the fecund females return and select their favoured little rocky nooks in which to give birth.

Then the pups start to appear. They shine in their white natal fur picked out in the September sun against the dark of the rocks and the beds of kelp.

This is Bardsey Island. Here are some images from this year's expedition:

Patrolling bull (gently blowing bubbles)

A fecund female sleeps

Newborn pup - less than one day old - stained yellow by amniotic fluid and still with the remains of the umbilical cord

Watchful mother and newborn

Mother and pup in the shallows on a calm sunny day

The whole family - whitecoat pup high on the shore - watchful mother in the water and beyond, on the rocks, a bull

On the high tide a mother and pup play in the rocky niche chosen as the rearing site -

And when play is over it is feeding time and the pup suckles.

Badgers at Summers' End.

The camera trap reveals at least three badgers are still visiting the garden.

Cub

In the short film snippet below you can see the three.

The one on the left is one of this year's cubs. His or her face now has bright white stripes, like the others (earlier they were not so distinct). The larger animal on the right is obviously an adult female and I think the third animal may well be a larger cub.


But there has been more noisy fighting! Whilst I was away last week, the neighborhood was again awoken by badger screams and people came out of their houses to find out what was happening. Apart from the damage that they may be doing to each other, they will not be making themselves popular!

Modern Scrimshaw in Madeira

The Whale Museum of Madeira is one of the island's still slightly hidden treasures. This inspired homage to the ocean giants and the island's unique relationship to them is currently hosting a display of local children's art. Each piece is based on the tooth of a sperm whale.

A spectacular part of the permanent exhibition - the great whale hall.

More doors and some views of Funschal, Madeira

The street of many painted doors changes into the street of many restaurants at night.

The ECS Council in action - at the Pestana Casino Hotel

View of the main harbout from the Pestana casino

and looking the other way!

One of many local whale watching boats