\n Pupping season is underway for grey seals at Orford Ness in Suffolk and numbers are expected to grow from last year’s 228 pups.\n<\/p>\n
\n The first 200 adult seals arrived at Orford Ness 2021, becoming Suffolk\u2019s first breeding colony.\n<\/p>\n
\n A cow and her pup laying on the shingle at Orford Ness in Suffolk. (Image: Hanne Siebers \/ National Trust Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n The site is closed to visitors during the winter, which helps to minimise disturbance, while National Trust rangers will carry out regular counts from a safe distance.\n<\/p>\n
\n A spokesman for the trust said: “To minimise disturbance, we are asking people not to try to access Orford Ness out of season and to avoid using drones and other aerial equipment in the area.\n<\/p>\n
\n Numbers of pups at Orford Ness are expected to increase again this year. (Image: Hanne SiebersHanne Siebers \/ National Trust Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n “Access by foot, boat or drone is unauthorised, illegal and dangerous due to the remote and former military nature of the site.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n “Our ranger team will be carrying out regular patrols and population counts to check the size and health of the colony.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We don’t allow anyone to get close to the colony, for both the animals’ safety and ours, as wildlife disturbance remains the biggest threat to the species on UK shores.\n<\/p>\n
\n Pupping season has begun at Orford Ness in Suffolk, home to what is believed to be Suffolk’s first colony of grey seals. (Image: Hanne Siebers \/ National Trust Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n “Instead, we’ll be sharing photos and videos, all taken from a safe distance, so that you can stay updated from the comfort of your own home.”\n<\/p>\n
\n In the wild, female grey seals, known as cows, can live for 30 to 35 years, whilst males live for about 20-25 years.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n A grey seal on the foreshore at Orford Ness, where a colony has been developing since 2021. (Image: Hanne Siebers \/ National Trust Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n They have their first pups between the ages of three and five and usually return to the same place each year – meaning some of the adults having pups this year would have been born at Orford Ness in 2021.\n<\/p>\n
\n A grey seal pup that’s started to moult at Orford Ness, shedding its white coat. (Image: Hanne Siebers \/ National Trust Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n Global numbers of grey seals are estimated to be around 300,000, with British and Irish waters supporting around 40 per cent of the world\u2019s grey seal population.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pupping season is underway for grey seals at Orford Ness in Suffolk and numbers are expected to grow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[70,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-638363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115735584009300624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}