Why yes....

I know exactly how cute I am

*wink wink*

Break in the weather

During a break in our windy windy weather, Sinatra and his mom caught some zzz's in the sun.

Windy weekend

So far we have been extremely lucky on the isle; beautiful warm sunny days. But not today! It is a particularly windy day, and it is predicted to be even worse this weekend. The water has massive waves, and sea spray is being thrown across the island. It is to bad for us to get any work done, so it will probably be a quiet weekend doing what things we can, and waiting the front out.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy thanksgiving! I have lots to be thankful for, having such wonderful family and friends, and having the opportunity to work on my own research on an Isle full of baby seals. How can you not be grateful when baby seals are playing with sticks all around you?

One days difference

The pup pictures from yesterday? This is the same pup. Loosing fluff, and coming into her spots. A huge difference in just a day...within a day or two she should be fully molted.

Almost finished cookin'

Born on November 4th, this is where she has gotten to today. Pretty impressive for 2 1/2 weeks

Metamorphosis

To go from this:

To this:

One must shed tons of white fluffy hair in massive piles and ackward stages.

Currently the pups I have been following from birth are going through this. Piles of pup fur are everywhere, and hairballs fly everywhere on a windy day.

Playing

Kids come up with all sorts of things to play with, doesn't have to be fancy store bought toys. Buying cats toys, ours seem to enjoy the box more. The same seems true for seal pups; they play with anything they can get ahold of. This weaner is playing with a clump of grass.

Weaners!

One of the students at st andrews is examining the social interactions of weaned seal pups. Today was spend catching and coralling said weaners. This is one of our study pups, she is very pretty!

And another blog...

If you would like to read more about Isle of May, our lovely photo identification expert keeps up a blog year round. This entry is about my research :)

http://www.isleofmaygreyseals.co.uk/?p=461

Sinatra

Two days ago a new pup was born. This mom has been tracked for years by researchers on the Isle, and likes to take her pups away from the crowded beaches to raise them in peace and quiet. Usually she goes uphill to the ruins of the monastery, but this year she choose the base of the hill. This is her pup, who stricks me as a Sinatra (Frank :) ). The first two pictures are of Sinatra just a few hours after birth, the last from this morning. They grow up so fast!

Interview

One of the pups was curious with my equipment again...but mom had to come and make sure it was safe first. She came right up to the microphone and was very talkative, a perfect interview!

Crying pup

Poor pup cried and cried, but mom was away for a swim. Had to just take a nap instead.

The Isle

Here are some shots of the Isle....it is about a mile long, and 1/3 wide. Lots of rocky coast that the seals and birds love. And two lighthouses. A beautiful place! I had loads I tried to post at once, but blogspot did not want to digest them. I will save them for another day!

Sock Pup-pets

Before: 1 week old

Grey seal pups have an intensive maternal care period; over the course of 18-21 days they are weaned and their mothers leave them to go back to sea. To make this feasible, they have to gain a kilo or two every day. When they are young, their skin hangs loose to make room for all the fat they are going to build up. They look almost like a puppet. But once they gain the weight, they can hardly move they are so tubby!

After: somewhere between 3-4 weeks old.

Sunrise and Sunset on the Isle

The moon is beautiful at sunset from here :)

Sunny days

Today was another wonderfully sunny day, not a cloud in sight. It is very unseasonally warm, I am very spoiled spending my days sitting in the sun watching seal pups. A few of them looked very content sleeping in the sun today.



This mom hiked her way up a hill, and looked lovely against the blue sky. In the background you can see the lighthouse.

Curiosity

While recording one of the new pups (who I named Monroe after Marilyn Monroe) a neighboring pup got very curious and decided to come and visit my equipment. Sniffed my peli case, played with my cables and looked very confused when it would move as he pushed his nose into it. Mom did not approve...but twenty minutes later when the pup got bored and wandered away, mom forgave him and they curled up for a late morning nap. A perfect day for it too...not a cloud in the sky!

Remember remember

The 5th of november. Happy guy fawkes day! We should be able to see the fireworks from on top of the hill on May, so we should still get to enjoy the festivities.


This pup is adorable...he sits with his head back for hours on end. Just how he wants to see the world I guess!

New Born Puppies

Part of my PhD research is looking at how grey seal pup vocalizations develope as they grow. Since I have been here, four pups have been born on my study sites, and I have been spending the last few days stalking them with a microphone and recording lots of barks, squeeks, moans, sneezes, and all other puppy uterances.

Here are pictures of all the newborns. Since I am trying to get recordings of them, I think naming them after singers would be very appropriate. I would love to hear your suggestions if you have any ideas!

Puppies

So far so good on the Isle of May, and updates will start coming with pictures of cute puppies. There are so many of them; there are a few different sites here that are just littered with seals.

Halloween and off to May

Ok, I am very bad about posting, though it really is mostly because my time has been primarily spent reviewing literature and getting all of my safety courses and introductions to the school taken care of. But Marc and I had a wonderful Halloween; we carved pumpkins with friends (marc a seal, me a skeleton dog), and spent the weekend in Dundee. We went to their science museum, Sensations, which revolves around the 5 senses, and did all the touristy things in St. Andrews as well (castle, cathedral, aquarium). And at night we joined the other biology post grads for a pub crawl. We went with a Princess bride theme for our costumes; Marc went as Inigo Montoya, and I as the dread pirate roberts.

And now I am finally off to the Isle of May to start recording the little grey seal puppies! We supposedly have internet on the Isle, so hopefully I won't be to out of touch for the month I am out there. Should have some cute baby seal pics to post soon.