Bumper birthing season for seals on the Norfolk coast as numbers increase
Watch a report by ITV News Anglia's Emily Knight
It's been a busy season for birthing seals on the Norfolk coast with numbers at the highest ever seen.
The Friends of Horsey Seals has more than four hundred volunteer wardens who share the job of counting the seals and patrolling the beach to make sure the mothers and their pups are not disturbed.
The flat beaches, shallow waters and high dunes at Winterton provide the perfect place for seals to give birth and it is considered by many to be one of the UK's greatest wildlife spectacles.
The number of births are counted and recorded each week during the season which starts in October.
David Vyse, the Vice-Chairman of Friends of Horsey Seals said: "We've had more seals than ever and it's increasing. Here at Winterton we have been very, very busy, we've had lots of seals born on the beach, at the moment they are starting to go back, they are fully weaned pups.
A few weeks ago we had some very bad storms and unfortunately we lost a few, but they seem to have recovered and they are still coming up onto the beach and they are still giving birth."
The adults have reduced in numbers from one thousand just over a week ago to four hundred.
The season is gradually coming to an end, but the sight of the seals is still pulling in visitors.
David Vyse said: " We just ask people to keep away from the seals, we have got wardens to keep you back and we have got it roped off and fenced.
If you come near to a mother and a pup, the mother will abandon it and the pup will be abdonned on the beach which we have to deal with."
More than four hundred wardens from the Friends of Horsey Seals share the job of patrolling the beach to make sure the seals are not disturbed.
Raymond is a volunteer warden, he said: "It's just the enjoyment knowing you're doing something. Trying to look after this beautiful sight and all the lovely seals that keep coming back and without us as volunteers really, if they get disturbed too much they're not going to come back.
You're so close to natural wildlife it's unbelievable and we get a buzz every time we come, we love it."
A voluntary beach closure remains in place at Winterton to protect the remaining seals.