Seal pups have appeared a month earlier than usual at a nature reserve.
The pupping season usually runs from October to mid-November at South Walney Nature Reserve in Cumbria, but this year the first animal was spotted on 31 August.
A second pup was born three weeks later on 17 September with the new arrivals welcomed by conservationists as “a lovely late summer surprise”.
Beth Churn, marine conservation officer for Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said the early arrivals could be down to climate change affecting prey availability and sea conditions, or the mothers may have come from another region where pups are born earlier.