This trip is designed to give first hand experience of the conservation issues and conflicts involved in managing and conserving seal and seabird populations.

We visit Blakeney Point in Norfolk where both common and grey seals haul out. We then visit a seal rescue facility. Finally we travel to Seahouses and take a boat to the main grey seal breeding colony at the Farne Islands in Northumberland. In May the Farne Islands are the location for one of Western Europe's most impressive wildlife spectacles. Large numbers of puffins, guillemots, razorbills, eider ducks, terns and kittiwakes breed on the islands at this time of year and they can all be approached to within a few metres. The birds share the island with a large population of grey seals. About 40% of the total World population of grey seals breed around the coasts of Britain. We spend a day on the islands where the resident wardens describe the management of this National Trust Nature Reserve and conservation issues can be discussed.

To minimise costs accommodation on this field trip is self-catering and, although the University does provide some support, students will be expected to make a contribution towards the travel and living costs (currently around £85).

For further information, please contact Dr Nancy Harrison
Email: Nancy.Harrison@anglia.ac.uk