Kyle Wong Photography
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Event
    • Miscellaneous
    • Nightlife
    • Portrait
    • Sports
    • Stage/Theatre
    • Wedding
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • About
  • Contact Me

Seal Sands on Teeside

27/3/2016

Comments

 
Picture
Haven't posted for a while due to concentrating on my dissertation, haven't had any time to go out and take photos... until now, the Easter holidays! :D

Took the time off to visit Seal Sands near Hartlepool / M
iddlesbrough, and yes, there are actually seals there! (Guide on getting there below)​
​

First visit

It was a slightly overcast day the first time round, didn't see any seals around, so we carried on down the road to North Gare instead. 
Picture
Quite surreal landscape, feels like a film set from iRobot or something
Picture
Feels like a scene from a post-apocalyptic film, the industrial infrastructure survived but not much else
Picture
Some birds joined us and landed nearby
Picture
A row of Wood Sandpipers as if they were chilling on a telegraph wire
Picture
A fluffy juvenile oystercatcher (I think...)
Picture
We got a little too close and they didn't like it, so we took the hint and left


​Second time's the charm

​Went back again a couple of days later when it was sunnier and found the seals! There was a lot more to see at Seal Sands than just seals as well, saw a variety of coastal / water birds whilst waiting for the seals to finish napping and swim back into the sea. Sat by the water for over an hour and it was rather therapeutic :)
Picture
A Little Egret fishing (thought it was a "white heron" but there's no such thing?!)
Picture
Seals napping on the mud banks!
Picture
Reckon they were actually looking at me? I was a good 200 meters away on the other side of the creek
Picture
It's all good here, back to sleep zzzz....
Picture
Iceland gull flypast when I was waiting for the seals to move from the mud banks
Picture
Some Greylag Goose flew past as well, so it wasn't all waiting for the seals and nothing else :)
Picture
The sun was beginning to set as I was waiting. See the seals on the other side of the water?
Picture
The seals wake up every now and then, shuffles around to get comfy again before going back to sleep ha
Picture
A geese or some other bird during take off, love its silhouette and ripples in the water against the setting sun
Picture
Suddenly this seal popped up out of the water and headed towards the banks!
Picture
This poor seal struggled to get on land aww... (it did manage in the end after lots of splashing around)
Picture
More geese
Picture
The tide had risen and this seal was sleeping half submerged, and still didn't wake up lol
Picture
Waited for over an hour by the water, only one seal had napped enough and decided to go home for dinner...
Picture
Beautiful sunset just as I was leaving


​Visiting Seal Sands

​Good news! Seal Sands is very easy to get to and would recommend for a great half day trip. Come off the A19/A689, onto the A1185 and follow the road east until a roundabout, take the first left onto the A178 (aka Seaton Carew Road or Tees Road). The car park is then only a few minutes drive down the road, on the left, see Google Maps / screenshots below. There is actually a hide overlooking the mud banks now as well.
Click for GoogleMaps directions to the car park
More information on Seal Sands walks on the BBC: 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/naturescalendar/autumn/urban/seal_sands/seal_walk.shtml
Picture
Red pin is the car park for seals (click to expand)
Picture
Red pin is the car park for seals (click to expand)
Comments

    Author

    Engineering Graduate from Durham University
    Freelance Photographer,
    specialised in Nightlife/Event.

    Twitter:@kyle_wong
    Instagram:@instakylewong


    My Flickr
    @instakylewong
    Instagram

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    July 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    Categories

    All
    Durham
    Equipment
    Event
    Misc
    Photos
    Sports
    Tips/Tutorial
    Travel
    Uni Life
    Wedding

Instagram: @instakylewong
© Copyright Kyle Wong 2020. All Rights Reserved.