Singing Seals

Yesterday we were up early after a crappy night's sleep but the forecast was looking good and low tide was at 11am so we thought we'd go and see if we could find the seals which allegedly gather at the mouth of the River Findhorn at low tide.

So we drove to the nearest car park and then set out on our bikes. Beth on her snazzy new fat bike and me on my six year old Marin San Rafael hybrid.

A slightly random walk through the forest tracks and a final yomp through the woods to the beach got us down to the river and there were a few seals on the other bank so I got my out 500mm cat lens to take some photos while Beth went off on her bike (I can't really cycle on sand) to see if there were any more around.

A few minutes later she was back. She'd found a lot basking on a sand bank at the mouth of the river. And the best part: they were singing!

So I hotfooted it round there. The photo above was taken from further away but after that I got bolder and got as close as I could, and all the photos below are taken from there. You can see there's always a few of them keeping an eye on me. (Click on any photo to see it larger.)

Meanwhile Beth, who only had a 200mm lens with her, went to photograph some more seals I'd spotted on our bank a little further around.

It really was a magical experience, even better than the dolphins (about which I don't think I've posted here yet). We've both seen seals before, but never in these numbers, and we've never heard them sing. It really is eerie.

That combined with the pleasure of being out together on our bikes in the woods in sunny weather really made for a fine day out.