Yesterday we loaded the three girls into the car and headed out to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, on the southern end of St Brides Bay, walking all the way out on the Marloes Peninsula to its tip, Wooltack Point, where you can see Skomer Island.
Dear Lord, is the coast of Pembrokeshire picturesque.
We hoped to see seal pups. The Atlantic/grey seal gives birth around this time, and there is a significant colony of the adorable beasties on and around St Brides Bay. It would thrill all of us to see a fuzzy wee seal pup. It would especially thrill the middle daughter, Buttercup, who wants to be a marine biologist one day. Even if we didn’t see the seals, there was still a beautiful coastal path to walk.
It was partly cloudy, but not much chance of rain, and an otherwise gorgeous day, so our hopes were high that we would enjoy ourselves and see some seals.
We were not disappointed!
See the beach below?
You cannot see them at first glance, but there are three seal pups and a gravid seal (or big ol’ daddy seal) lying there. Their camouflage is practically perfect; they match the rocky shore that much.
Sorry the pictures are blurry. We were on top of the cliffs and didn’t have an awesome telephoto lens to get close ups. However, you should be able to make out Big Seal and, in the right hand lower side, a white curved bundle that is a pup. On the bottom left is a yellowish pup – a newborn. They turn white after a couple of days, so this little fella was born in the last 48 hours.
We saw eight pups in all, and got to watch a Mamma seal nurse her baby on two separate occasions.
The mommies also cuddled and played with their babies, and a slightly older pup was coaxed out to take a short swim. It was almost painful in its cuteness. We were overjoyed, and Buttercup declared that her life was now complete.
We also saw pretty plants and butterflies, like the small copper butterfly shown below, but as lovely as they were, they didn’t cause us to squeal with the same delight as the seals did.
To top the day off, we stopped at Folly Farm (which is also a small zoon) to see the recently born baby meerkats.
I adore meerkats. Just love the little buggers. Maybe I watched Rikki-Tikki-Tavi too much as a kid, but I am partial to all mongoose, and meerkats are (in my opinion) the cutest of the whole mongoose family. And baby meerkats are some of the most adorable things to inhabit the planet.
It was a wonderful day out in Wales.