This month is the main breeding period in the year for the grey seal colony on our north-east coast, and with 4,000 currently reported here it is the largest habitat suited to these seals in England. Hundreds of seal pups are born on the Farne Islands, although the mortality rate can be very high for these youngsters. The main threat is the stormy weather: some drown after being washed off the rocks when they are only a few weeks old. There are National Trust wardens working here all year round, and they tell me that they visit the seal colonies every three to four days during the breeding season and mark new batches of seal pups with a different colour on hip and tail on each outing, so that they can keep an accurate record of the survival rate of different groups. A few of the young seals are also radio tagged, so the wardens can follow their movements during the first months of their lives, but after the first year these devices can be lost as the seals moult. It is remarkable how far some young seals may swim, to other colonies as far away as Shetland, Orkney, and even Norway.
With regard to the local birds in our gardens, an RSPB friend tells me that I must advise neighbours with bird tables and feeders that these must be regularly cleaned to reduce the risk of avian infection spreading. In a really cold spell, wild birds' resistance to illness may become low, making them vulnerable to diseases which can kill them. Avian diseases can spread quickly if droppings are allowed to mix with bird food and water, so it is important to keep your feeding benches clean, however small they may be. Mine is just a small wooden platform which gets continually surrounded by garden growth of flowers, small bushes and shrubbery, but I do reach up to clean it regularly, and am rewarded with many birds of different species.