Postcard From Norfolk: Blakeney Point


If you're in North Norfolk, a boat trip out to see the seals at Blakeney Point is a must. Most of the coast there is a mass of salt marsh, sand dunes and secretive river creeks that eventually meander out to sea. Blakeney Point is a large sand bar across one of these and also a National Nature Reserve. You'll find lots of unusual plants and well camouflaged birds eggs amongst the sand and shingle, but the main reason for going there is one of the largest colonies of seals in the UK, about 500 of them. There's common seals (the grey looking ones) and more confusingly the grey seals (the black looking ones). We were about a fortnight too early to see the newly born common seal pups, but dark, unfathomably curious eyes bobbing just a few feet from our boatside ones, were just as exciting.

Comments

  1. Monica the Garden Faerie20 June 2009 at 17:09

    What a great photo, looks like a fun stop! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. HappyMouffetard20 June 2009 at 17:14

    What a great experience. The seals look like torpedoes stranded on the shoreline.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Scattered Gardener21 June 2009 at 00:22

    That looks like a great trip:-) Last summer we took a boat out on Walton backwaters (NE Essex) to see a small colony of seals established there over the past ten years. The guy who took us out was excellent - very knowledgeable about local wildlife, and the young ones were curious and swam out to meet us. A wonderful experience - thanks for sharing it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. petoskystone21 June 2009 at 13:30

    great photo! the seals remind me of a favorite movie-the secret of roan inish.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lzyjo21 June 2009 at 17:11

    OMG!!! They are too cute! It looks like they're doing yoga!

    ReplyDelete
  6. VP22 June 2009 at 09:40

    Monica - it was fantastic. The boat's keel was very shallow, so we could get really close to them.

    HM - don't they just! They're really funny when they move when ashore, it's a kind of 'bottom shuffle'. That all changes when they go to sea of course.

    Scattered Gardener - sounds like you had a great time. I wasn't aware of that colony, so thanks for letting us know about it.

    Petoskystone - thank you. I'm always aware of my camera's shortcoming when taking wildlife pictures and it was such a grey day, I was glad that something came out that was just about fit to publish!

    Lzyjo - it's where they put their flippers isn't it? If only I had their dexterity when I go to yoga class!

    ReplyDelete
  7. JL19 July 2011 at 03:40

    Just discovered your blog and found it interesting. Its quite awhile already but nevertheless, Blakeney Point is really a nice place to visit. Besides the seals as main attraction for tourist, you can do bird watching as well and the most part interesting is the historic background of the area. Its old Village and structures are so nice to see. Its really a very nice place to visit with family and friends.

    By the way, Nice photo you got there! Good post! Cheers!

    ReplyDelete

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