Sanday Sealcam 2018 goes live

Six years ago, Sanday Development Trust initiated a project that allowed anyone with access to a computer to watch the behaviour of Grey Seals during their breeding season from October to December. Now in its seventh consecutive season, the Sanday Sealcam is online once again.

A camera has been set up overlooking two small coves in a part of the island that is rarely visited — except by seals, otters, rabbits and birds.

Set up with the kind permission of local landowners, the Towrie family, the camera is linked to a radio dish that transmits the signal, by line of sight, to a distant receiving dish, and the apparatus is powered by solar batteries — and this year for the first time, a supplementary wind-generator – at the site.

Here, the live action is streamed to the internet and can be watched by anyone who logs on to the sealcam website.

Sandra Towrie, Chair of Sanday Development Trust said: “Sanday Development Trust is delighted to work with Triscom as it is a hard task to stream the camera using remote, rural broadband and get high-quality live footage successfully being streamed onto the web. The Sanday sealcam allows visitors a unique opportunity to see Orkney’s amazing wildlife up close and personal, and follow the highs and lows of an Orkney seal colony during pupping season from the comfort of their armchair — perfect for those unable to visit the island in person.”

In recent years, Northlink Ferries have part-sponsored the Sealcam, while Sanday Development Trust continues to fund repairs, replacements and maintenance of the equipment; and the time involved in camera control.

Thousands of people, from all over the world, have looked at Sanday Sealcam. From the comfort of your computer-desk, or even your laptop in an armchair by the fire, the website brings you the sights and sounds of seals on an Orkney beach. It’s a particularly impressive atmosphere when the tide is high and the weather rough.