What a star Leo the common seal pup from Orkney is turning out to be. He's been here a week and already grown from just under 11 to 14.5 kilos...and such a playful character. We put a tub of water in his pen, but he just climbed into it so we gave him a bigger one...and boy, did he have fun! #selkie #commonseal #harbourseal #sealpup #wildlife

Shetland's selkie summer has begun with Leo the common seal pup, rescued on the isle of Westray in Orkney on Sunday after losing his mum, finally arriving in Shetland on board NorthLink Ferries this morning after a relatively smooth crossing in his kennel below decks. He seems to be in good shape after five days of care by the BDMLR Orkney - Public team where he was placed on a course of antibiotics after his temperature rose mid-week. Despite the shock of a seven hour journey across the Fair Isle Channel on board a ship, Leo arrived looking bright-eyed and bushy tailed and seems to have settled in to the sanctuary quite the thing. He can't be much more than a week old, but is already putting on a little weight with his diet of fish porridge. Now we just have to make sure that continues with round-the-clock feeds. If you would like to join our kind and generous supporters helping us carry on this labour of love caring for seals like Leo, please visit https://www.hillswickwildlifesanctuary.org/donate/ Thankyou so much everyone for your love of ocean wildlife! #selkie #sealpup #commonseal #harbourseal #shetland #orkney #wildlife #oceanlife

The common seal season at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary begins this morning with the arrival of this wee fellow on NorthLink Ferries from Orkney where he was rescued on the isle of Westray at the weekend. The British Divers Marine Life Rescue crew on Orkney looked after him until he was fit to travel and it looks like they have done a great job. Thanks to Tom Hadley for the photo. #selkie #sealpup #commonseal #harbourseal #orkney #westray #wildlife #ocean

Smudge the acrobat still has trouble swallowing fish if they are a little too big. He got this one on the second attempt. He also managed to get tangled up in some kelp and play peek-a-boo with the camera. He's a clever boy! #selkie #greyseal #shetland #smudge

Turn on the sound for: What a fantastic celebration on Sunday at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary celebrating the life of Jan - "Da Selkiewife". An incredible turn out on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon full of smiling faces, fun and frolics. Jan would have absolutely loved it! A huge thankyou to everyone involved in making this event happen despite the odd calamity, especially Lynn, Brian, Maddie, JaydonLee, Megan, Daniel, Thomas, Mel, David, Chris, Tracey and family, Alex, Paula, Jim, Paddy & Fiona, Amy, Gavin and the amazing Tim on sounds, not to mention the Shetland Community Brass Band, Sauerkraut Seth and the Sheds, May and Mackie, Joy Duncan's UpAnDrumming and Donald, Alan and Radi for all the wonderful music. And thankyou to everyone who came along and made it such a wonderful occasion. We reckon there were at least 200 of you on the day who helped us raise an incredible £1,200 to help keep Jan's legacy alive caring for Shetland's precious marine mammals. #selkie

Our dear Smudge the grey seal has been having a few issues with his whiskers. When he arrived at the sanctuary he only had four decent sized ones, while the rest looked as if they had been snipped. Now he only has one long whisker on the left hand side. Recently he started losing some of them completely while others have been mysteriously just getting shorter, but this week we have been seeing them start to grow back a bit. These photos taken by Lynn show different stages Smudge's whiskers have gone through, the bottom right being the latest. Whiskers play such an important role in a seal's life helping them to sense prey, so this makes us even less confident about releasing Smudge back to the wild. In our quest to find out more about Smudge's condition we have sent off some fur for genetic analysis and await the results. #selkie

If you don't know Smudge's history you won't appreciate how MAJOR this post is. Smudge arrived at the sanctuary almost six months ago on 9 November after being rescued from West Voe beach in Sumburgh. He was fully moulted and floundering in the shallows. He has been one of the greatest challenges we have ever faced, needing to be encouraged and assisted at every step of the way. He struggled to swallow even a small piece of fish, refused to climb into a pool of water, but eventually we managed to hand feed him whole fish (as long as they were small and exactly the right shape) in the big pool. Then we hit a block and he simply would not eat independently. He would hold a fish side on, bite it in two, then drop the two pieces and spend the next wee while chomping it to pieces and pushing the pieces around the pool. He couldn't figure out how to turn the fish head-on to gulp it down, as seals do. We ended up consulting other sanctuaries for advice and the big Piederburen sanctuary in Holland suggested the obvious. Use a long handled litter picker to hold the fish underwater in the right way for him to grab it head on...and voilá. It took him two days to figure it out, but we got there. He even managed to swallow a herring tail first! Real progress! We still have concerns about Smudge and his ability to cope on his own in the wild. So we shall watch his progress and keep consulting folk before we make a final decision on release. But what a good boy he is. Well done Smudgie boy! #selkie #sealpup #greyseal #wildliferehab #shetland

A wonderful morning for us and for Elder the otter cub who was rescued last August from Shetland's Westside after she was abandoned by her mum. Today we finally released her having waited this long to ensure there would be plenty of fish available out there for her now the winter has passed. Initially hesitant, Elder took off once she got a sniff of freedom. She rapidly cased the entire area before slipping into a burn and making her way downstream towards the sea. Scrambling over the rocks she eventually noticed the ocean waves curling gently in. But she wasn't ready for that experience just yet and headed as fast as she could back to the safety of the burn where we left her to get used to her new surroundings. She looked very much at home, but we shall be keeping a close eye on her and dropping fish off regularly until she gets the hang of finding her own meals. After all, she hasn't had a mum to show her the ropes of survival, so she'll have to figure that out for herself. All we can do is give her the best chance of making it. Good luck, Elder. Great to see you go! #draatsie #otter #shetland #wildlife #freedom

A rare glimpse of Elder having fun in her pool before she heads back to the wild. Won’t be long now. #draatsie #otter #funfunfun

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