A young seal rescued in Norfolk infested with worms and severely underweight is now fighting fit and ready to make a splash with visitors to an island in the Forth.
Jules also had squinting eyes when he was found at Old Hunstanton in January last year, weighing only 24kg. The National Seal Sanctuary spent months fattening him up before he was released nearby at Snettisham weighing 47kg.
He has now been spotted enjoying the beach on the Isle of May.
Reserve manager David Pickett hopes Jules, who was identified by his sanctuary flipper tag, will stick around and be a star attraction for the island’s seals open days next weekend.
He said: “He’s quite a character and certainly seems to like visitors. I even gave him some toys to play with today.
“It’s good to see a rescue seal surviving in the wild. It’s a year and a bit down the line and he’s travelled a good way north and seems to have settled into the Isle of May community very well.”
In the autumn and winter up to 4,000 seals haul themselves onto the rocky shores of the island to have their pups and mate. The breeding colony is the fifth largest of grey seals in the UK and the largest on the east coast of Scotland.
To book a place on the May Princess boat from Anstruther visit www.isleofmayferry.com or phone 07966 926254.