Yesterday I was down at St Mary's Lighthouse at Whitley Bay with some friends - to see the lighthouse, and the tall ships and the seals. We had a lovely time, but unfortunatley there were no seals hauled out on the rocks and just a few to be seen in the sea off the rocks. Sadly this is due to human disturbance; much of it being folk who go especially to see the seals - such a shame.
 
However, we did bump into some of the brilliant local people people who volunteer as St Mary's Seal Watch. When the tide is out they man the area and chat to folk making them aware of the potential consequences of their actions. When we were chatting, I found out that what they could really do with (apart from more enthuisastic volunteers, obviously) is more binoculars and telescopes. Luckily, we happen to have some that we were using up until this season, when we got a donation to buy some new ones. I have been hanging on to the old ones, wondering what I could do with them, and I am pleased to say that we can now pass them on to an(other) good cause!

Brilliant to make that connection too, seals don't just stick in one area, they wander over quite large distances, and it could well be that some of our breeding seals go down there for thier summer holidays! Liza.