Rode my horse, had lunch and drove off to see the bebbies at Sandness.   Jo happened to remark that there were seals at Bousta (the bay at the end of her road).

BeAnne and I drove off to look and there was the harem.  Did you know that the collective noun for seals, amongst many others is HAREM? (tis true, says so here)

I have never seen so many just lazing on the beach in the sporadic sunshine.

I left BeAnne in the car, under pain of death if she uttered a noise or moved.

and then I slowly snuck up on four seals lying on a small jetty.

The two big ones swam away quickly but the other two stayed put.

The one on the right was very precariously balanced and reminded me of someone.

I didn’t want to scare them so I walked very slowly, taking small paces, stopping and avoiding eye contact.  I also sang because I remembered somewhere that you should sing to seals.  I sang softly and the seals didn’t seem perturbed by my presence.  They just lay there and watched me, intrigued.

After getting very close (about 12 foot away before they calmly slid off their jetty into the sea), I got back into the car and drove slowly down the track on the side of the beach using the car as my hide.  The seals, again, just lay there.  I suppose they are used to cars as the track leads to a house.  I poked my camera lens out of the window and snapped away quietly without scaring them.

I have a very soft spot for seals but I am well aware that they are not the cuddly-wuddlies we want them to be.  They can kill dogs so I do not encourage my dogs to swim in the sea, ever.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-19882985