Wildlife experts have revealed why it's important to keep your distance from seals as pupping season begins.

South Walney Nature Reserve is an official grey seal pupping site with the first pup there in 2015.

Pregnant females arrive at the reserve and search for a suitable place to give birth, usually away from the main group.  

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Once the pup is born, the mother will sniff and call her pup and they will form a bond.

This is one of the reasons why Sarah Neill, Programme Leader for FdSc Marine Biology and Rehabilitation at Kendal College, advises people keep their distance from the seals.

"Getting too close to seal pups can lead to the mother abandoning it and never returning," Sarah said, "leaving the pup to starve to death". 

"Disturbance can also cause an impact at a local and even national population level by reducing breeding success.

"If scared or disturbed by human activity, seals may ‘flush’ into the water before replenishing their oxygen, heat, and energy reserves.

A seal pup with its mum at Walney Island Nature reserve (Image: Living Seas North West) "This can impair their reproductive success and seriously compromise their life expectancy.

"Not only might seals prematurely flush, but they may also stampede or tombstone into the sea resulting in injuries and site abandonment.

"In addition, grey seal pups are born with a white coat known as a 'lanugo' which is not waterproof and they are likely to drown if driven into the sea.

"They do not moult this white coat until they are weaned at around three weeks old.  

"If threatened, seals may also attack and bite. They can carry a zoonotic disease known as 'seal finger’ which is an infection that requires specific treatment and if left untreated, can develop into cellulitis, tenosynovitis and septic arthritis-  another reason to give seals space."

Cumbria Wildlife Trust's drone camera over South Walney Nature Reserve (Image: Cumbria Wildlife Trust) Cumbria Wildlife Trust began its first seal survey of the year at the Walney reserve, revealing stunning overhead drone images on September 24.

The drone is deemed as safe from disturbing the colony due to its height in the air and it counted the seals as they hauled out on the beach. 

185 have been counted so far which is fairly normal for this time of year.

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Georgia de Jong Cleyndert Head of Marine at North West Wildlife Trusts said: "We will be going out every two weeks until the end of March to count the seals and monitor behaviour.

"We have just entered pupping season so it’s a really exciting time of the year for the colony but it is also when they are most vulnerable to disturbance.

"It's really important that we keep away from the colony to give the pups the best chance of survival.

185 seals have been counted so far at South Walney (Image: Cumbria Wildlife Trust) "The government code of conduct advises that all water crafts stay a minimum of 100m away from seal haul out sites and there is no public access to the spit where they are.

"However visitors to South Walney Nature Reserve can see the seals hauled out at low tide or in the water at high tide from a safe distance from the hides. You can also watch them from the comfort of your own home by looking at our seal cam."

To view the seal cam, visit Cumbria Wildlife Trust's website.