Aberdeen Marine Mammal Project - News

  In my previous roles working with seals, the weather rarely dictated whether work happened — only how uncomfortable it might be. I’ve pressure-washed outdoor seal enclosures in rescue centers in driving rain, worked through snowstorms at Bird Island with the British Antarctic Survey, and endured intense heat on the Galápagos sea lion project. The work simply carried on. There were moments when sanity was questionable. Times when it took an hour just to defrost fingers, or when you were so soaked through that it felt pointless trying to dry out. Every seal team also had a bit of a reputation for being hard on equipment — waterproof casings inevitably failed, salt spray found its way into everything, and we were forever asking for help fixing kit that had once again been pushed to its limits by the marine environment. There’s a saying that pets often reflect their owners, and I’ve long thought there might be something similar going on with researchers and their study species. W...

I’m excited to introduce Alice Pollard, a journalism student from the University of Stirling. With a strong passion for environmental and conservation themes she requested to join me for a photojournalism assignment.   Read on to hear her reflections on documenting a survey! The sun is rising over the North Sea. Hundreds of grey seals lift dozy heads in the golden light, a handful slipping into the icy embrace of the River Ythan, unaware of the drone buzzing far above them. It is 8 am, and the conditions are perfect for a seal survey. I have joined PhD student Claire Stainfield for the morning, armed with a bag of lenses and a slightly rusty Nikon. The goal? To document the seal survey process, and learn about the importance of the project. What I didn’t anticipate, however, was the striking onslaught of nature from all angles at Ythan Estuary. Claire has dedicated her life to studying seals. On the frozen shores of the North Sea, she undertakes her latest project – studying v...

The PhD Project was awarded a generous grant from Sea-Changers, a marine conservation charity, to support our drone-based seal research at the Ythan Estuary. This funding is crucial for providing the on-the-ground assistance needed to ensure safe and effective drone flights, while safeguarding the delicate wildlife of the reserve. It's all the people on the ground who make my research possible. I’m excited to introduce Max, read on to hear his reflections on the role!     "When I first saw an email advertising a drone survey internship at the Ythan Estuary, I didn’t hesitate. I already fly drones, I study Wildlife and Conservation Management, and the idea of spending time on a beach watching seals sounded significantly better than being indoors staring at spreadsheets. What I didn’t fully appreciate at the time was just how much early mornings, sand, and careful note-taking would be involved.   sunrise at the estuary  Over the course of six weeks, I took part in ...

  The PhD Project was awarded a generous grant from Sea-Changers, a marine conservation charity, to support our drone-based seal research at the Ythan Estuary. This funding is crucial for providing the on-the-ground assistance needed to ensure safe and effective drone flights, while safeguarding the delicate wildlife of the reserve. It's all the people on the ground who make my research possible. I’m excited to introduce Kirsty, read on to hear her reflections on the role! I (Kirsty) am the sixth person to finish the drone internship with Claire at Newburgh, starting in April and finished mid-May. From previous blog posts you may be familiar with the role of drone intern - assisting Claire with the seal surveys, speaking to members of the public and being a drone spotter. With survey times being 2 hours either side of low tide and increasing daylight hours, the tide times seemed to vary, but stay in my favour; meaning no early early starts for me! The weather was still cold, ...

  The PhD Project was awarded a generous grant from Sea-Changers, a marine conservation charity, to support our drone-based seal research at the Ythan Estuary. This funding is crucial for providing the on-the-ground assistance needed to ensure safe and effective drone flights, while safeguarding the delicate wildlife of the reserve. It's all the people on the ground who make my research possible. I’m excited to introduce Adam, my latest drone observer intern. Read on to hear his reflections on the role! "The early bird gets the worm, and the sleepy student gets a Greggs’ bacon roll on their way to Newburgh Beach for a sunrise seal survey. At least, that’s what my experience as a drone intern/observer was. With low tides and good flying weather often colliding during the wee hours of the morning, I was fortunate enough to start the day watching the sun spread across the beach, listening to the whimsical wails of the fifteen thousand or so seals that sat across the estuary from ...

  After weeks of battling short daylight hours, we’ve finally turned a corner—longer days are returning and the promise of better weather on the horizon! While winter has its challenges, including tides that occasionally fell outside daylight hours! We pushed through and kept collecting data when we could. And now, with brighter days ahead, our work is evolving once again. Credit: Claire Stainfield, taken as part of a survey under licensed research drone usage permitted by NatureScot. A Major Milestone: 50 Flights and Counting! Persistence has paid off, and we recently hit a significant achievement—our 50th drone flight! This marks the continued effort in our research, capturing invaluable data on the seal colony throughout the seasons. Every flight represents hours of planning, teamwork, and dedication (in the office and in the field!), and we couldn’t have done it without the incredible support around us. To celebrate? Ice cream, of course! Because what better way to mark...

  If you've been following our blog, you might remember a previous post introducing Angela, who is working on thermal imaging technology to monitor seals in the Ythan Estuary. Recently, she ran another trial on the beach, continuing her efforts to optimize the deployment setup. During this trial, we teamed up to assist her with the calibration process. Angela's thermal imaging is effective at detecting seals when they're hauled out, but due to the seals gathering closely together, distinguishing individual seals becomes a challenge. In the images above, the left one shows a smaller, tightly packed group, while the right shows a larger, more dispersed group. (Thermal image credit: Angela Amlin) To help with this, my drone images provided a count of individuals and a clearer view of the haulout's density and shape. She hopes to use this data to help calibrate the heat images in her camera. During Angela's visit, the seals were cooperative, forming two distinct...

The PhD Project was awarded a generous grant from Sea-Changers, a marine conservation charity, to support our drone-based seal research at the Ythan Estuary. This funding is crucial for providing the on-the-ground assistance needed to ensure safe and effective drone flights, while safeguarding the delicate wildlife of the reserve. It's the people on the ground who make our research possible. I’m excited to introduce Iona, my first drone observer intern, who has been assisting me on the beach. Read on to hear her reflections of the role so far!  "Hello! I’ve been at Newburgh Seals Beach assisting Claire Stainfield with her PhD research as a “drone observer intern” and I’m thrilled to share some insights from my first month in the role! I recently graduated from SRUC, where I studied Wildlife and Conservation Management, with a particular interest in marine conservation. My honours project focused on bottlenose dolphins in Aberdeen Harbour, so I jumped at the opportunity to ge...

  Hey there! I’m a new PhD student at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) in Aberdeen, and I’m super excited to share my research journey with you. This year, I will be spending a lot of time at Newburgh Seal Beach, observing the seal colony that calls this place home. It’s been an exciting start, and I can’t wait to dive into the details with you. What’s the Deal with the Seals? So, what’s so special about these seals? Well, they’re grey seals, and they hang out on the beach all year round. But here’s the interesting part: their numbers change with the seasons. My mission this year is to gather all kinds of cool ecological data about them. I’m looking into how different age groups and gender of seals use the beach and where they prefer to rest. To do this, I’m using drones to snap aerial photos of the colony. From these bird’s-eye views, we can estimate the seals’ age by their size, determine their sex by the colour of their fur, and see exactly where they like to chill. Why Bot...