Findhorn seals
November 7th 2008
I can never decide whether the seals at Findhorn bay are friendly, sinister or just plain nosy. As soon as you put a kayak in the lagoon, one will appear, bobbing up nearby just as you’re getting your spray-deck adjusted. By the time you’ve paddled into the channel that links the lagoon with the Moray Firth, there will be four or five shiny snouts appearing and disappearing all round you, apparently taking it in turns to pop up just behind the kayak with a loud huffing noise. When you whip your head round to see it, all that remains is the ring of water where it’s just dived. You wait, slightly nervous the first few times, for it reappear below you and give your boat a playful wallop, but no … it’s disappeared. For now.
The Findhorn colony has both the big Atlantic grey seals with their long sombre faces, and the smaller, cuter common (harbour) seals. They can all out-stare a dead herring. There’s usually a crowd of a dozen or so hanging out on the sandbanks at low tide, or on the Culbin shore when the water is up. As you get nearer to the group you become aware that there are even more glossy black heads silently accompanying you as you paddle. Every so often one makes a big splash or an extra-loud huff, as if trying to attract your attention, or maybe distract you from the main group.
I reckon they’re acting as bouncers, making sure we don’t get too near the family. They’re big beasties, and amazingly agile in the water. They mean business and I wouldn’t like to annoy them by encroaching too closely. I doubt a novice paddler would perform well against one in a race, and anyway I’ve no wish to disturb them on their home territory. They’ve every right to guard their own.
But every so often I’m sure I see a gleam in those big dark eyes, just before they duck under and pretend to head for my kayak. They might be seeing us off the premises, but they’re having a laugh while they do it.