An award-winning visitor attraction has welcomed the first grey seal pup of the year.
The Scottish Seabird Centre said the pup's birth had been spotted on the centre's interactive live cameras.
Staff member, Claudia Gehrig, and the Seabird Centre volunteers spotted the new pup, named Toby, at 11.30am on Thursday, October 2. They estimate that the pup was born the day before.
The grey seal pups, which have white fluffy coats and big eyes, can be seen via the screens in the Discovery Centre, with interactive live cameras located out on the Isle of May National Nature Reserve, which is owned by Scottish Natural Heritage.
As well as new-born youngsters, there are a large number of female seals, known as cows, on the beach which look close to giving birth.
Andy Dickson, Discovery Centre Manager, said: "There aren't many places in the world that you can see seals giving birth live on camera - it is our own version of One Born Every Minute and the reality of nature before our very eyes.
"Given the number of expectant mothers we can see on the beach at the moment, there will undoubtedly be a spate of seal pups arriving over the next few weeks. It really is amazing when you see them being born."
The Scottish Seabird Centre is also reminding people to stay away from any seals and pups that are seen on Scotland's beaches.
Tom Brock OBE, chief executive of the Scottish Seabird Centre, said: "This is a great time of year to spot wildlife around our coasts. Scotland is internationally important for its grey seals - around 36% of the world's grey seals breed in the UK, of which 90% are colonies in Scotland. However seals carry bacteria which are extremely dangerous to humans and other animals.
"The Seabird Centre recommends that people do not get too close to seals and to keep dogs strictly under control. This is important for their own safety and to ensure that the pups are not disturbed or harmed.
"If members of the public see seals in distress, whether pups or adults, they are advised to phone the Seabird Centre on 01620 890202 or the Scottish SPCA on 03000 999 999."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article