Every trip we take out to see the seals on Blakeney Point we are seeing around 500 seals, a lot of them those pups now around 4 months old. At the moment there always seem to be a group right on the tip of the point that Mikey refers to as the “bike shed” where some of the youngsters hang out, playing in the shallows.

We launched Ptarmigan on a cold grey morning in the week leading up to Easter with a fresh new coat of paint organised as usual by Kate. Since then we have been out in all weathers. The Easterly that we have had now for weeks is supposed to switch this weekend; local lore has it that the Easterly lasts for Lent; someone must have not realised that Easter was early this year.

Still we have layered up and its been worthwhile seeing this great number of seals. There are still quite a few male Grey seals around  the Rookery, still displaying the scars of their breeding battles around their necks. A lot of the common seals are moulting, giving them a rusty look and it is quite amusing to watch hundreds of seals lying on their backs scratching. All they need is a LayZBoy chair….

Mikey and I saw our first terns high above us yesterday and the gulls are already flocking in the dunes preparing to breed.

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3. Blakeney point seal trips 2012

Thank You

“Had a fantastic day out on the  ‘Ptarmigan’. The tour guide was excellent, very friendly and full of info on the seals and surrounding areas. Would definitely recommend and come again.”

 

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A record amount of  grey seal pups have been born this winter,so a spectacle awaits on blakeney point.

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Mike had seen some young Gannets the day before and they were there again, around 20 birds fishing in the harbour. They are largest seabirds that we get in the UK, the fully mature adults having a wingspan of around 2m. As with the terns that we see in the summer, they are also adapted for diving for fish with an air sac; unlike the terns theirs is in their face and chest. The Gannets we saw yesterday were first year birds, being completely black. it will take them another 4 years before they achieve the white plumage of the adult.

Almost all of the Common Seals have moved off the beaches, while the Grey seals are beached all the way from the Lifeboat House, round the point , along the whole of Lower Harbour and around onto the North beach. I have never seen so many Greys as there are at the moment with around 100 pups lying with their mothers in their white birth fur. We saw several new borns who weigh in around 14kg; they will suckle for around 3 weeks and slowly loose their white coat. Afterwards they then are able to swim. Their mother’s milk is about 60% fat so they quickly gain weight – around 1.5kg a day and this is mainly laid as blubber which protects them from the cold of the water when they go in.

There are also a lot of huge male Greys around the colony as breeding season starts as the pups are born. We watched a fight between a couple of males; no blood from that confrontation, but we did see neck wounds on other males.

With the weather as mild as it is, and the light winds, now is a fantastic time for both seal and nature watching from the boat. On our return from the seals we were again treated to a diving and fishing display from the Gannets and also saw Pink foot, Greylag and Brent Geese, a little Grebe, Shelducks, Mallards and right on the point itself a small group of Turnstones feeding at the water’s edge.

Again there were a number of large Grey males inside the harbour floating around the edge of the beach. A couple of weeks ago we had a 1st year Common seal (he’d be about 6 months old) come right up the channel while we were waiting to board the boats. With typical curiosity he popped up his head around all the seal boats, before returning back down the channel to the harbour.

We’ve seen some amazing sights on our seal trips in Blakeney Point, but the sight of all those Greys with their young takes some beating.

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Although North Norfolk seal trips are a year on year crowd puller, the area around Blakeney Point is also a prime location for bird watchers, dinghy sailors and walkers. The seal trips destination offers many other ways to relax and enjoy the great outdoors .  No matter what kind of holiday you are considering, you’re assured a good time with great memories and fun when you visit Blakeney Point seal trips.

The Best Time To Visit

Norfolk Seal trips leave for Blakeney point all year around but are understandably busier during the summer school holidays (we strongly advise you too book early). There is an extensive choice of accommodation too suit all budgets around the area for those making this a stop-over or part of their holiday. Camp-sites, caravans, B&B, cottages to let and hotels; again book early to avoid disappointment during the busier months. Spring and Autumn can be less crowded and also offer the chance to see flocks of seabirds to and from Blakeney Point.

The summer season is a popular time to embark on the Blakeney Point seal trips, for a variety of reasons. It should be warmer and dryer (not always the case with our Great British weather!), we are able to accommodate sailings in the evening on high tides and 6 week school holidays.

So if you have just broken up from school why not come to North Norfolk for a ride on our boat Ptarmigan. The Ptarmigan is essentially a 48-year old conventional clinker that was designed and built by Stratton Long. It is perfectly constructed for its job to ferry passengers from Morston Quay to Blakeney Point to the seal colonies. This year the Ptarmigan had a complete refit and is on top form and looking superb.

This area is a great place to explore, the fishing is good as well. You will find some great fish restraunts up and down the coast here.

Please check out our other blog articles, some of which have links to short videos giving you an idea what its like on-board. You can find our time table here and please give us a call to book your seat. We look forward to welcoming you onto Ptarmigan soon to experience the great Norfolk seal trips.

Technorati Tags: Morston Quay, Norfolk seal trips, North Norfolk

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In the first few weeks of this season, we had phenomenal sunshine that was occasionally accompanied with some breeze. It is in such occasions that birds like the white tailed eagle pay a visit to Blakeney seals. With our ferry boat ‘Ptarmigan’ we take you to the best colonies to view the Blakeney seals. We normally operate in the Blakeney harbor. Trips around normally last more than an hour and therefore you may at times need to carry some snacks.

Seals are very inquisitive animals. They will always pop up around the boat to check on the passengers. Usually, we sail close to the sandbanks to get great view of the seals. This also gives the passengers a good opportunity to take beautiful pictures.

There are usually Blakeney seals spending their time outside water. This gives the tourist a good probability of seeing the seals. Seals maybe clumsy on land but in water they are very agile and can swim to speeds of 20 mph. With whiskers, Blakeney seals can locate fish vibrations in water. They can submerge themselves in the water for about 30 minutes. Their favorite meals are seasonal oily fish. Just in case you thought you would carry a snack for them, then you may have to think twice.

Not only is Blakeney point known for seals, it is also popular for birdlife. Common terns and Sandwich terns are the most common birds found around. In mid April, the terns arrive from Scandinvia and breed at Blakaney point. From the Ptarmigan, you will be able to get a great view of the birds.

Click for more information on Blakeney Seals and Blakeney Point Seal Trips

Technorati Tags: Blakeney Seals, Common Seals, Grey Seal Pups, Grey Seals, Seal pups

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We’ve been watching our first brood every day and sad to say probably Herring Gulls have taken two of the brood. The remaining one is growing fast and we saw it again today shooting along the shore, much larger than our first sighting.

The terns have also been busy and Eddie, the National Trust warden living on the point tells us that they have found 3562 Sandwich Tern nests so far, around 1000 more than last year and the best result since 1992 when there were around 4000 pairs. The great weather has probably helped in this success. The Artic and Common terns are now well into nest building and the small numbers of Little Terns, estimated around 250, are also just starting.

The final Brent Geese left for Siberia to breed at the end of last moth and there have been several great sightings on Blakeney Point of a Rough-Legged Buzzard, a male Red-Footed Falcon and a Ring Ouzel and one of the fisherman was telling me of a sighting of an Osprey hunting off the end of the point. I wonder if this has drifted over from Rutland Water in Leicestershire, the nearest nesting area.

Several times over the past few trips we have seen the tern and gull colony diving in a large group over what were probably shoals of Whitebait. Earlier this week we saw a large number returning over the sea from Blakeney Bar where they had been hunting, low over the waves like a huge bomber formation. Quite an amazing sight.

We took the boat out last week for a couple of days for a safety check before the main season started and Ptarmigan is now in great shape for all the Blakeney Point Seal trips that we have planned for the summer! Lots of fun trips and new ideas for the summer holidays – watch this website for more news.

Technorati Tags: Blakeney Point, Brent Geese, Oystercatcher, Terns

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One of our passengers made sure to be completely wrapped up for the weather!

Then the weather changed for the better, the wind dropped and we have had some brilliant trips out with the boat sold out and full of excited children. As we rounded the point there were a few young grey seals playing as they often are in the runnels made by the tide meeting the entrance to upper harbour and then the boat burst into excited chatter and lots of pointing as there were a group of mainly Common Seals basking in the sunshine. This trip we had a group of 30 holidaying families, staying at the Caravan park in Cromer, North Norfolk.

Mike the skipper has been fishing most days this week as we have had late tides and so our sailings have been in the late afternoon. Not much luck off Cley beach most of the week, but he did get some Mackerel (is this stealing from the hand that feeds?) which sadly didn’t make it as far as my plate.

We often have a seal following the boat, particularly when we stop to look at a group on the beach and we put the boat in neutral and this one was typical – we think that it is Sammy the seal and he loves running in our wake.

Join us soon and see the amazing wildlife up close on the North Norfolk coast, on Blakeney Point Seal trips!

Technorati Tags: Cley beach, Common Seals, Grey Seals, North Norfolk, North Norfolk seals

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We did warn folks that there might be a bit of spray around during our safety briefing before we set off and there was a group of young guys and girls who had been out late the night before in Norwich and were suffering a little, who looked a little nervous.

As we left the channel a steady 20 miles per hour wind from the South West hit us and we could see all the waves had white crests – white horses – which meant that we were in for a bit of a ride. Mike and I had done a trip where the conditions were similar to this last November, but it turned out this was even more fun!

Normally we will take a north Westerly route across the harbour, passing by the landmark of the old Lifeboat Station, but in order to try and get whatever shelter we could from the land we kept to the Southern part of the harbour. There had been a big tide and this was running out and this created short, cresting waves in the harbour. One of the first things I learnt on the boat was that we do our best not to get the customers wet, and we faced our bow directly into the South Westerly waves. Despite the best efforts, spray from the waves breaking on the bow came sheeting into the boat, most of it immediately landing on the hungover crew. More spray followed in, with all of the passengers laughing (which was great to see!).

Mike ended up standing over the young Mum with the toddler to act as a spray guard as the tide took us down the harbour and out into open sea. Here Mike took over the tiller on the tip of the point, facing us into the wind still with our stern looking out over the seals on the beach, just on the seaward side of the tip of the point.

Grandma of the toddler stood up to try and dry her jeans out in the wind as we motored back, now running with the waves rather than into them and sun came out. There were a lot of Common seals on the beach after last week was almost completely all Grey Seals and the Little Terns that we saw arriving 3 weeks ago are often out on West Sands with the seals, and also at the entrance to the channel back to the quay at Morston. Quite often we also see Artic terms in the channel – there is a pair who seem to have taken up residence on the boom of one the Oysters moored at the entrance to the channel.

Looks like we are forecast strong Westerlies for half term week, along with some cloud and most of my farming friends are on their knees every night before bed asking for rain. On the seal trips on North Norfolk, we secretly are happy with the sun….

Technorati Tags: Blakeney Point, Blakeney Point Seal Trips, Grey Seals, North Norfolk, Terns

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A few days ago Mike and I were out and saw a large gathering of Common Seals, around 75, just around the tip of the point and on 2 subsequent days saw adult seals with fish netting stuck around their necks. Eddie, the National Trust warden resident for the summer months on Blakeney Point, has seen 4. Sadly, there is little we can do as when approached on land the seals rapidly shuffle off the beach and into the water, and underwater, at speeds of up to 35kmh, they are impossible to get to.

We hear of a story of an adult female Common Seal with some fish netting around her neck who was shot with a tranquiliser dart, who then with the shock, rushed into the water where she then,of course, drowned.

On a happier note, we continue to get great daily sitings of the seals. Today brought us to West Sands where unusually there was a group of adult Grey Seals, more normally seen in the water. The weather was fantastic, the sun shining, a few clumps of Cumulus and a force 3 North Westerly breeze which just suggested that a smock over the T-shirt might be an idea! There were a couple of young males who decided to mock play as we passed up and down, just metres from them. Its latin name means “hook nosed sea pig”, which is nice, and some Americans refer to it as the Horsehead seal and you can see why.

Last week Mike and Adam went out on Ptarmigan with the rods and brought back some mackerel, the arrival of which means that the seals’ summer menu is now here. Mike’s catch grilled up a peach and he is now saying that there are a couple of celebrity chefs queueing up for a trip out on to Blakeny Point to see the seals and maybe cook up a few fresh line caught mackerel while we’re out….I guess we won’t say no!

We were also graced with a visit from the boss, Kate who spends her windy days selling ticket for the seal trips on Blakeney Quay. Mike and I both behaved and she, and some lovely customers, got another great trip out to the seals in the sunshine with Blakeney Point Seal Trips!

Technorati Tags: Blakeney Point Seal Trips, Common Seals, Grey Seals, Horsehead Seal

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