Grey Seals frolicking

On a wet and chilly May day here on the Firth of Forth I'm recalling the gloriously sunny weather of the weekend.

When not working on shore with walking tours, I'm a boat tour guide which lets me see what's out on the water. And with the warm weekend weather, we had lots of Grey Seals in evidence! Our skipper was lucky enough to catch this speedy footage as the boat sat in the crystal clear waters of the Isle of May's Kirkhaven Harbour.

Grey Seals can grow to be 12 feet if they are a male but this one looks more like a female and may well make it to 6 feet in length. There are thousands of seals around the May and collectively the Forth hosts the East of Scotland's largest Grey Seal breeding colony. The smaller Harbour or Common Seal does occasionally make an appearance but is relatively rare compared to the Grey Seal, in spite of its name!

Previously vilified for eating fish, and consequently culled, seals are now known not to be responsible for low fish stocks. This means we can continue to marvel at their agility and contemplate how they find fish in the darkest depths (up to 200m) using their incredibly sensitive whiskers.