Today is the ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc, which some consider to be the first day of Spring. In Shetland the worst of the winter weather may still be ahead of us this month, but Elder the otter cub rescued from Burrastow in August has come through the cold season so far in extremely good shape. She is strong, robust with a healthy appetite, and will certainly be ready to make it out in the wild once we reach the end of March when the fish are starting to run and she will have less of a struggle fending for herself - though of course we will be in the background dropping fish off for her once she goes to give her a soft landing as an independent, self sufficient otter. #draatsie #imbolc #shetland

Seal pup Storm, the perfect example of a handsome selkie, finally went back to the wild this afternoon two months after being rescued during Storm Bert when she was found on a beach in Fetlar. A worn out white coat when she arrived, she never stopped thriving going from strength to strength until today when it was her time to go and make a life for herself in the big blue! Swim free selkie Storm! #selkie #sealpup #greyseal #shetland

Here’s Storm…rescued in November from Fetlar and ready to be released back to the wild tomorrow!!! #selkie #shetland #gowild

Elder the otter rescued as a cub out past Walls on the west side is looking fabulous five months after she arrived at the sanctuary just a few weeks old. Here she is in the recent snow swimming in her pool and being hostile - just how we like them! #draatsie #shetland

Our dear old Smudge, who looks like an old fellow even though he's still a pup, has proved to be a tremendous challenge since he was rescued almost two months ago from the West Voe beach at the Shetland mainland's southern tip. He is the latest of a lengthening line of grey seal pups we have received at the sanctuary over the past few years who have displayed what we can only describe as "learning difficulties". Even though he was fully moulted when he was brought here, and should have been on the verge of catching his own meals, he has shown almost no aptitude when it comes to eating independently. We have been hand feeding him from the start to maintain his weight, and though he shows great interest when he comes across a juicy herring in his pool, he doesn't seem to know what to do with it other than chomp it into pieces. He definitely has displayed problems with swallowing, which might be a major part of the problem, and we are happy to say that after weeks and weeks of patient effort, he is now managing to swallow fish whole. Smudge is just taking a long time to get there, but we are confident that we will be able to release him back to the natural world where he belongs in the not too distant future. His condition does make us wonder about what is going on with our selkies these days though. #selkie #sealpup #greyseal #shetland

We drove all the way to the southern tip of Shetland's mainland this morning after receiving a call from Jan Tylsar about this young grey seal, who he was able to get quite close to in order to check that it was OK. Though it looked healthy and a decent size, we thought it best to go and have a look for ourselves, even though it was a 60 mile drive from Hillswick. We had a lovely walk from Scatness, but there was no sign of any seal when we found the cove where it had hauled out. No doubt it was just exhausted after the recent storms and just needed a rest. With the winter weather bringing rough seas we're likely to see more seals like this needing to haul out and rest. Please contact the sanctuary if you come across any, though we may just ask someone to monitor them rather than just bringing them into captivity. #selkie #storm

It has really been a heartbreaking day here at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary. Last weekend we noticed that both our remaining two underweight seal pups from Orkney were showing signs of a similar problem as Sandy who passed away last week. We immediately started them on an intensive course of antibiotics and fluids following advice from our local vets, treating them every three hours. We were confident that both Frankie and Stevie were recovering well throughout this week. They had more energy and all the other signs indicated that they were improving. So it was a devastating shock to walk into the seal unit at 6am this morning to find that they had both passed away. We are determined to find out what the cause of death for all three Orkney pups is, so we have already taken them for a post mortem and hopefully will have some results fairly soon. May they both rest in peace xxx #selkie

Meanwhile a third seal pup arrived at the sanctuary from Orkney on this morning's NorthLink Ferries boat. Stevie was rescued by BDMLR Orkney - Public three days ago after being found alone and malnourished on a rocky beach. A female, she is a lot stronger (and noisier) than Sandy was, and might prove a match for the equally noisy Frankie who can be heard in the background of this video. Already moulting, she is eagerly tucking into fish pieces and if she carries on at this rate she should start putting on weight after coming in at 13.5 kilos. #selkie #sealpup #greyseal #orkney #shetland #wildliferescue

It is with considerable sadness that we have to report that the beautiful young grey seal pup Sandy who arrived from Orkney last week died yesterday. She was extremely thin on arrival and had probably never been fed by her mother, so did not have the benefit of the all-important colostrum that contains so much of the goodness that helps any new born thrive. And though she ate enthusiastically when she was rescued, she gradually faded as she lost her ability to fight to stay alive. Her story reflects the importance of those early feeds from mum and the challenge we face keeping pups alive in these circumstances. May her spirit swim freely now she has gone. #selkie #sealpup #greyseal #shetland

New arrivals at the sanctuary this weekend, all the way from Orkney. The BDMLR Orkney - Public team rescued these two underweight, skinny grey seal pups last week and held them for 48 hours to treat them with antibiotics before sending them up to us on the NorthLink Ferries boat. Sandy the whitecoat was found at Sandwick Bay on South Ronaldsay, monitored for 24 hours for any sign of a mother and then brought in for treatment for an eye infection. Frankie - not the same as our common seal of the same name during the summer - was fully moulted when found on Scapa beach, but very thin with an infected flipper. By the time they arrived on the boat they were noisy and feisty and eager for food. We cleaned them up and rehydrated them, and were astonished at the speed they started wolfing down the fish...unaided! So aside from completing the course of antibiotics, our job with these two is very straightforward. We cut up pieces of herring, lay them on the floor (which they find easier than in a bowl), and down the hatch they go. At this rate it won't be any time before they are piling on the pounds and heading for the outside pools. If you would like to join the kind and generous people who support our work and help us raise these two gorgeous seal pups, please visit our website at https://www.hillswickwildlifesanctuary.org/donate/ Thankyou one and all. We could not continue this labour of love without your help. #selkie #sealpups #greyseals #orkney #shetland #wildliferescue