For six weeks every autumn, Manx Wildlife Trust (MWT) sends volunteers to the Calf of Man to conduct seal surveys, to monitor the number of births and taking a photographic record of adults, with the aim of better understanding the Isle of Man’s seal population. This year, MWT is excited to announce that, thanks to generous funding from Gough Ritchie Charitable Trust, MWT will also be carrying out seal surveys around the shores of the Isle of Man.

Members of the public are invited to share their interest with Manx Wildlife Trust for these exciting volunteer opportunities. No training is needed for the Isle of Man Seal Surveys, which will involve six trips around the Calf over the general pupping season to count seal abundance and record their distribution. The surveys are planned to start in late September.

The Calf of Man seal surveys take place in the Autumn for around 6 weeks, starting at the end of September, to enable the survey to capture information about the pups and adult seals. Manx Wildlife Trust is looking for an enthusiastic volunteer to part-take in the whole 6 weeks of surveying and a following 2 weeks of data analysis. This is an exciting opportunity to study these unique mammals for someone already with or wanting to develop their photo ID skills.

More details about the Volunteer opportunities can be found on Manx Wildlife Trusts’ website at: http://www.manxwt.org.uk/volunteer-opportunities. Enquiries should be sent to Marine Officer, Lara Howe at lara@manxwt.org.uk.

If the public would like to get involved, MWT would love to hear about where you are seeing seals around out coast to help us build up a better picture. Any sighting can be reported to the Marine Officer Lara Howe at lara@manxwt.org.uk by providing a location and photograph, if possible. 

Photo courtesy of Alex May.