A surge in the number of seal pups born at St Abbs has been welcomed by conservationists.
Ongoing monitoring by wildlife experts at the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has shown an increase of 10 per cent in the last year.
The number of grey seal pups grew from 556 in 2014 to 631 last year.
NTS said it only started detailed monitoring of grey seal pup numbers at St Abbs in Berwickshire in 2014 when staff noticed they were spreading along the coast.
The charity said that the monitoring work will continue to see if the growing trend is short or long term.
Liza Cole, Property Manager at St Abb’s Head said: "Scotland and the UK hold over 40 per cent of the world population of this species. It is good to see so many pups on our beaches, as the grey seal is actually one of the world’s rarest. Grey seals are such a regular sight along our coasts, it is actually quite hard to appreciate this fact at times.”
“However, it is not clear what our counts mean for the grey seal population as a whole at this time as many seal pups won’t last their first year.”
Nature conservation adviser Lindsay Mackinlay said the figures were 'interesting and encouraging' and something they will 'keep an eye on in the foreseeable future'.
He said: "At this time, it appears that other grey seal colonies along the east coast of the UK have witnessed large numbers of seal pups being born in 2015, although we do not know for how long this trend will continue.
"I believe the Farne Islands colony saw similar increases to us but the seal pup counts at Blakeney Point in Norfolk remained stable in 2015 after several years of massive growth.”
Cameraman Simon Goodall also captured a video of one seal pup's struggle for survival while the monitoring work was underway.
St Abb's Seals from NTS on Vimeo.
Ms Cole added: “This video is the best way to see our seal population up close. Trying to access our beaches can be dangerous and would disturb the seal population, so we’d encourage wildlife fans to view from the comfort of their own homes.”
St Abb's Head is a National Nature Reserve which is year-round haven for birdwatchers, walkers and wildlife lovers.
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