the best start to the year

Current work: Capri medical revisions

Listening to: Corelli

Reading: Lucy Dillon, Walking Back to Happiness (enjoying, even though one of the themes is touching a bit of a nerve)

Last year didn’t end well – apart from losing Dad, Christmas was made very difficult by another family crisis. So, on New Year’s Day, I suggested we went to the beach.

Apart from the fact that the North Norfolk coast is the best place in the world in winter for blowing the cobwebs away, there was something special I wanted to see. Something really life-affirming.

At Horsey Gap, there’s a colony of grey seals, and at this time of year the pups are born. This year, 370 pups were born to the colony during December – it’s particularly heartening that the numbers are increasing, because four years ago half the colony was wiped out by a virus.

The beach is fenced off at this time of year, because if humans get too close it can cause the mums to abandon their pups. So we had a gorgeous walk on the dunes on a mild and calm day, and we got to see lots of seals – some were swimming, some were lazing around on the beach, and some were having a nap on the dunes themselves. (This bull was just enjoying the the sound of the waves hitting the rocks.)

This was my daughter's favourite - his expression reminded her of our spaniel, plus he flopped his way all the way up the beach and waved a flipper at her.

This pair touched me most.

I couldn’t get over the way the mum cuddled her pup the same way that a human mother would cuddle her child – including soothing strokes with her flipper, the way that a human mum would stroke a child’s hair. And she made sure she was between her pup and the bull, to protect the baby.

The seal warden told us that seals are weaned at the age of three weeks – and, during those three weeks, the mum concentrates entirely on her pup and doesn’t eat at all (and uses 30,000 calories a day in feeding her baby). She protects the pup from the bulls (who can be very mean to the pups – especially as the mum is ready to mate again, two weeks after the birth).The pups learn to swim at the age of around six weeks, and then they’re pretty much on their own; though their mums have taught them everything they need to know by this point. When they lose their white coat, it’s pretty itchy, so they come onto the dunes and roll around in the marram grass.

This seal was fast asleep and was oblivious to the humans who couldn’t resist taking a photograph of their own offspring next to the baby. (And yes, of course we did...)