Donna Nook National Nature Reserve

Grey Seals at Donna Nook Nature Reserve, LincolnshireDonna Nook is situated in the East of England on the Lincolnshire coast. The Grey Seals arrive in their hundreds in November and stay until the beginning of January, giving birth and mating.

It is amazing to see them all there. I confess I spent two days there photographing them! I sent a few images to my Mum and she asked me if they ever moved! Well, yes they do but not a lot, they spend most of the time resting and sleeping!

Grey Seals at Donna Nook Nature Reserve, Lincolnshire - New bornThe second day I was lucky to see a bit more activity; mating and a pup being born. Unfortunately, the latter happened very quickly and I only spotted it happening out of the corner of my eye so didn’t get to capture a photograph.

The wardens are very knowledgeable and can tell you which cows are still to give birth etc. They also advise you not to visit on a weekend as it is extremely busy. I went in the week and although there were a lot of people it was easy to see the seals. Some of the pups seem very inquisitive about the humans that are stood watching them. The cows always have an eye on the pups and if the humans are making too much noise then they seem to lay between the noise and the pup to protect them.

If visiting the site there is a main car park and an overflow if you don’t manage to get a space. The main car park gets full very early and the overflow is a farmer’s field but it does have portaloos! The nearest toilets are otherwise in North Somercotes village. Look out for the cute little gift shop where they also accept donations 🙂

This year, there were 1798 pups born at Donna Nook. You can follow the progress of numbers on Twitter @DonnaNookWarden

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2015

On Saturday January 24th I settled on a stool at the kitchen window and counted our garden visitors for an hour for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. We have been getting quite a range of birds visiting and thankfully the majority decided to turn up for breakfast while I was counting…

Blue tit – 3
Great tit – 1
Coal tit – 1
Long-tailed tit – 1
Robin – 2
Starling – 1
Dunnock – 1
Goldfinch – 2
Collared Dove – 1
Pied Wagtail – 1
Blackbird – 2

We normally get Woodpigeon’s, a Magpie and a Jay who visit too.

I took the below images of our feathered friends through the kitchen window so not to disturb them.