Seals in England: where the biggest colony is, and why only by boat

England's largest grey seal colony is in Norfolk, on the shingle spit at Blakeney Point. Around nine thousand pups are born there every year, and the pupping season is running right now — from late October to mid-January.

How the colony grew from nothing

The first pup at Blakeney Point was spotted in 1988. Through the 1990s pups were born only occasionally. In 1999 there were five. Numbers then rose every year, and in 2014 Blakeney became the largest grey seal colony in England. Today around 9,000 pups are born annually.

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The National Trust sets out the reasons plainly. The seals have no natural predators here — killer whales, for instance. The Point is remote, with little disturbance from visitors. There is plenty of room to breed and spread out. And crucially: on rocky shores pups are often washed away in storms, while Blakeney is a shallow sloping beach with dunes, so that risk does not arise.

About half of the seals born reach their first birthday, and a significant number survive into adulthood. Having matured, they return here to breed. There is plenty of food in the North Sea.

How to see them

The key point: during pupping season you cannot reach the colony on foot. Restrictions run from late October to early January, and staff, volunteers and signs on the beach make clear how far along the Point you may walk.

There is one way, and that is a boat trip from Morston Quay. The National Trust says outright that views of the seals are much better from the water, and recommends booking ahead.

The boats are run by local family businesses, not by the Trust: Beans Boat Trips have operated for over fifty years and sail year round, including through the winter; Bishop's Boats have run from Blakeney harbour and Morston Quay since the early 1960s with traditional clinker-built wooden boats; the Ptarmigan sails daily from April until early November; and the Temple family have more than sixty years of trips behind them. For wheelchair users and passengers with other needs there is Poppy, a specially designed ferry boat.

Dogs: strict dates

Dogs are not allowed anywhere on Blakeney Point in two periods: from 1 April to 31 August, during ground-nesting bird season, and from 1 November to mid-January, during seal pupping season.

Practicalities

The nature reserve is open dawn to dusk. The Lifeboat House out on the Point is closed in November.

Parking at Blakeney Quay and Morston Quay is pay and display, free for National Trust members, who scan their membership card for a ticket. Note that the quayside car parks are liable to flooding — read the signs.

The toilets at Blakeney Quay are not run by the Trust. One accessible toilet out on the Point is open to the public from March to October, and another sits opposite the Blakeney Carnser car park, also March to October.

Blakeney, Morston Quay and Cley are all on the A149 between Cromer and Hunstanton. The Point itself is isolated, but mobile reception is reasonable.

If you would rather not take a boat

There is a three-mile wheelchair-accessible coastal walk through Blakeney village and around Blakeney Freshes, which is excellent for spotting birds and other wildlife. You will not see the seals from it, but it gives you the place.