It's International Day of the Seal today (apparently), which reminded us that an update on our beloved, but challenged, grey seal pup Smudge was long overdue. Under normal circumstances after being rescued as a fully moulted pup four and half months ago, Smudge would be long gone making a life for himself out in the wild. But there is nothing normal about Smudge. Aside from his wonky rear flippers and his humped back, he has trouble swallowing fish. As you can see in this video he rejects any fish that doesn't feel right in his throat and though he shows enthusiasm catching fish in the pool, he has yet to grasp the art of getting them past his mouth and into his belly. This is why Smudge remains in our care, with little sign of him leaving it. We hope to find an explanation for his difficulties, which we are currently discussing and will share when we have more information. In the meantime he seems content in his pool and he does love his food, despite appearances! #selkie #sealpup #greyseal #learningdifficulties

A day of surprises and sadness today. This morning a call came in from john_moncrieff about a seal needing help down in Boddam. It sounded like a victim of the recent storms we’ve been having, so we drove the 60 miles to the south end to check and there it was cradled in the kelp on the beach, barely visible to the passer by. It looked different - a bit like a common seal, but different. We picked it up and took it straight to shetlandvets to get medication as it was clearly unwell, with dried blood around its mouth. They agreed - it was a ringed seal from the Arctic, an extremely rare visitor to these parts. So armed with lungworm treatment and antibiotics we drove back to the sanctuary, by which time the seal was going downhill fast and within less than an hour it had passed away just as we were preparing the medication. Such a sad and sudden end to the story after such an unusual discovery. It turns out that a ringed seal generated excitement about two weeks ago when it was seen in the Firth of Forth. It’s hard to be 100% certain, but it certainly looks like this is the same seal. And how many ringed seals turn up on Scotland’s east coast? So the next stage will be a necropsy to find out what the cause of death was, while we get over the shock of the experience. It’s never easy losing a seal, even if you’ve only been with it for a few hours. #selkie #ringedseal #shetland

Today is the ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc, which some consider to be the first day of Spring. In Shetland the worst of the winter weather may still be ahead of us this month, but Elder the otter cub rescued from Burrastow in August has come through the cold season so far in extremely good shape. She is strong, robust with a healthy appetite, and will certainly be ready to make it out in the wild once we reach the end of March when the fish are starting to run and she will have less of a struggle fending for herself - though of course we will be in the background dropping fish off for her once she goes to give her a soft landing as an independent, self sufficient otter. #draatsie #imbolc #shetland

Seal pup Storm, the perfect example of a handsome selkie, finally went back to the wild this afternoon two months after being rescued during Storm Bert when she was found on a beach in Fetlar. A worn out white coat when she arrived, she never stopped thriving going from strength to strength until today when it was her time to go and make a life for herself in the big blue! Swim free selkie Storm! #selkie #sealpup #greyseal #shetland

Here’s Storm…rescued in November from Fetlar and ready to be released back to the wild tomorrow!!! #selkie #shetland #gowild

Elder the otter rescued as a cub out past Walls on the west side is looking fabulous five months after she arrived at the sanctuary just a few weeks old. Here she is in the recent snow swimming in her pool and being hostile - just how we like them! #draatsie #shetland

Our dear old Smudge, who looks like an old fellow even though he's still a pup, has proved to be a tremendous challenge since he was rescued almost two months ago from the West Voe beach at the Shetland mainland's southern tip. He is the latest of a lengthening line of grey seal pups we have received at the sanctuary over the past few years who have displayed what we can only describe as "learning difficulties". Even though he was fully moulted when he was brought here, and should have been on the verge of catching his own meals, he has shown almost no aptitude when it comes to eating independently. We have been hand feeding him from the start to maintain his weight, and though he shows great interest when he comes across a juicy herring in his pool, he doesn't seem to know what to do with it other than chomp it into pieces. He definitely has displayed problems with swallowing, which might be a major part of the problem, and we are happy to say that after weeks and weeks of patient effort, he is now managing to swallow fish whole. Smudge is just taking a long time to get there, but we are confident that we will be able to release him back to the natural world where he belongs in the not too distant future. His condition does make us wonder about what is going on with our selkies these days though. #selkie #sealpup #greyseal #shetland

We drove all the way to the southern tip of Shetland's mainland this morning after receiving a call from Jan Tylsar about this young grey seal, who he was able to get quite close to in order to check that it was OK. Though it looked healthy and a decent size, we thought it best to go and have a look for ourselves, even though it was a 60 mile drive from Hillswick. We had a lovely walk from Scatness, but there was no sign of any seal when we found the cove where it had hauled out. No doubt it was just exhausted after the recent storms and just needed a rest. With the winter weather bringing rough seas we're likely to see more seals like this needing to haul out and rest. Please contact the sanctuary if you come across any, though we may just ask someone to monitor them rather than just bringing them into captivity. #selkie #storm

It has really been a heartbreaking day here at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary. Last weekend we noticed that both our remaining two underweight seal pups from Orkney were showing signs of a similar problem as Sandy who passed away last week. We immediately started them on an intensive course of antibiotics and fluids following advice from our local vets, treating them every three hours. We were confident that both Frankie and Stevie were recovering well throughout this week. They had more energy and all the other signs indicated that they were improving. So it was a devastating shock to walk into the seal unit at 6am this morning to find that they had both passed away. We are determined to find out what the cause of death for all three Orkney pups is, so we have already taken them for a post mortem and hopefully will have some results fairly soon. May they both rest in peace xxx #selkie

Meanwhile a third seal pup arrived at the sanctuary from Orkney on this morning's NorthLink Ferries boat. Stevie was rescued by BDMLR Orkney - Public three days ago after being found alone and malnourished on a rocky beach. A female, she is a lot stronger (and noisier) than Sandy was, and might prove a match for the equally noisy Frankie who can be heard in the background of this video. Already moulting, she is eagerly tucking into fish pieces and if she carries on at this rate she should start putting on weight after coming in at 13.5 kilos. #selkie #sealpup #greyseal #orkney #shetland #wildliferescue