Now one month old, Leo the common seal pup rescued from Westray in Orkney after being abandoned by his mum and ferried up to Shetland by NorthLink Ferries is finally eating small pieces of fish. We remove the bones from a herring, cut it into small pieces and pop them down his throat. We started over a week ago, but it was too much for his delicate tummy so we stopped and just kept up the fish porridge tubed down his throat straight into his stomach. Not the nicest way to be fed, but it's the only way with seal pups. The other day we started again and he's doing better. We're still keeping up the fish porridge for now - slowly is holy with these babies - but so far, so good. We've tried to interest him in taking a piece of fish himself without us having to push it down his throat. He wouldn't take it from the hand, or from the floor, but he does enjoy chasing a fish piece round his paddling pool. He's not quite got the hang of catching and eating it yet, but one step at a time. He'll get there...eventually. #selkie #sealpup #commonseal #orkney #shetland #fishpieces

Leo, Leo, Leo...he goes from strength to strength and continues to pile on the pounds. And boy, does he love his paddling pool. Rescued by BDMLR Orkney - Public as a new born common seal pup three weeks ago from a beach on Westray in Orkney he has thrived since he arrived here on NorthLink Ferries. He's still being tube fed fish porridge but his weight has increased by half already. The next step is to slowly introduce fish pieces and push them gently down his throat. There was a time when we started caring for seals almost 40 years ago when we could bring a pup up on pieces of fish from the word go. Now their tummies are too sensitive, so we and other seal sanctuaries have to make a rich mixture full of nutritional supplements and tube it directly into their stomachs. Not very nice for them, not very nice for us. Just one of the many consequences of the declining environment seals and other marine creatures have to put up with in this modern world. Our oceans' health needs restoring. #selkie #sealpup #commonseal #harbourseal #wildliferehab #orkney #shetland

Dear Smudge the grey seal who has taken up residency at the sanctuary has started his moult and a beautiful fresh coat is appearing beneath his old fur. During their annual moult - this being his first - seals go off their food so Smudge's appetite has noticeably diminished. But he is relaxed, happy and sleeping quite a lot too. And when Smudge sleeps, he really sleeps! #selkie

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