On Tuesday I spent the afternoon at Gwithian beach on the north coast of Cornwall. It was a beautiful day, warmer than we had expected and with little breeze making it perfect weather for paddling in the sea and seeing who could get skip stones the most before they sank. Our record was 5, the Guinness world record holder is 88!
We’d been to this beach before during a field trip in our first year of university but that was during the winter, so the wind and rain made it a pretty unpleasant experience.
I find that there’s something extremely relaxing about standing in the wet sand at the edge of the waves, feeling it move between your toes as the waves flow back and forth around your ankles- especially once you’ve been there for long enough that the coolness of the water doesn’t shock you with each wave.
One of my friends had been speaking to someone she knew from the seal sanctuary and had been told that 5 juvenile seals rescued over the winter were going to be released, but we managed to get the wrong beach twice! The seals were supposed to arrive at 2:45 and as the time approached we started to think that we’d got the wrong time or place again. At 2:50 we decided to leave, and noticed a small crowd of people waiting together- among them the person from the seal sanctuary that my friend knew!
The seals arrived about 20 minutes late in a trailer that bumped slowly across the stony beach. One was clearly keen to be free, standing against the side of the bars to look out at what was happening. I guess that after being rescued as stranded pups it would be completely different to what they were used to. They were the only actively inquisitive one though, the rest huddled together in a pile at the other end of the trailer, regarding us all with wide eyes.
Seals can move surprisingly fast across land, so we had to keep our distance to stop them from running directly into us. A couple emerged from the trailer before having second thoughts and returning to the safety of the familiar, while others headed straight for the sea with increasing speed. It was awesome being so close to the seals without a barrier or fence and witnessing their return to their natural habitat.
The first ones in bobbed around in the bay, swimming along the length of the beach investigating the lifeguard training and paddleboarders at the other end. As the rest of the seals entered the water they joined their companions and swam as a group to explore their new surroundings.We watched them for a while, just heads appearing above the water every so often to have a look about before they slowly made their way out of our sight.
The seals were released from the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, which is well worth a visit to see the work they do rescuing and rehabilitating stranded seals from around the Cornish coast. Unfortunately the last time I was there was in the summer after all of the juveniles had been released so it was only the resident seals living there but this more than made up for it!
Jasperusual 