And, down by the water’s edge, seals have been hauling out on to the rocky strands to give birth. One or two bulls waited in the shallows nearby, rising and falling with the waves, or seen in silhouette like submarines. It cried and cried. At first I felt a flash of horror: there were bodies strewn over rocks and rotting heaps of kelp. Fifteen per cent of the world’s grey seal population breeds here on Orkney in the winter months.

Source: The Guardian January 02, 2021 05:26 UTC