Beautiful Bardsey Bulls

Maintaining a sleepy watch over the haul-out.

You have already seen pictures of the pups and their mums. Now take a look at some of the big adult males - the bulls seals which are patrolling the breeding grounds.These are heavy animals -- with thick necks bearing spots and scars and they smell like hot tar (the kind that is applied to mend holes in the road) at this time of year. There are occasional tussles between some of them but rarely anything that an be called a battle. Most of the time they are just somewhat sleepy and occasionally they approach the females (mainly in the water) to see if they are receptive to mating yet. See interpretation below. 

Lounging on the rocks

A little mid-water sparring between two bulls.

A younger and sneaky male

A handsome younger bull keeping out of trouble.

Another mature bull in his prime does his very sleepy best to keep most of his body out of the water for as long as he can on the rising tide.

The love song of the grey seal

The grey seals are very vocal and their calls can be heard from far away across the island, especially the undulating and rather sweet yodeling of the females. 

It is not clear to me why they make these sounds. In some cases it seems to be one female telling another to move away from her chosen haul-out spot - its a question of personal space and favoured rocky seat - and this is sometimes accompanied by some flipper waving (which looks comical until you take into account the long sharp claws on the end of the fore-limb).

Bulls have deeper guttural voices. They snarl and gargle and one often observed conservation is the one between the amorous bull and the female he is wooing.

This goes something like this:

He swims up to her and says: "Snarly, snarly wharly, gargle blub blub blub?" [The blubbing is because during the conversation he puts his head underwater and is simultaneously blowing bubbles.]

She replies: 'Whhoooo, whooooo, whooooo, whooooooooo!'

Rough [unofficial] translation:

Him: 'How about it babe?'

Her: 'NO!'

(Typically the females will not mate until their pups are weaned but this does not stop the bulls ‘trying it on' from time to time.)’. 

'blub blub blub'

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And finally here is a picture of the dear old Bird Observatory where generations of field researchers have stayed over the years. The Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory runs its own blog which is beautifully illustrated with photographs each day HERE