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The time has arrived when ringed seals begin to bask in the sun on the sea ice. Last year I wrote how the ringed seal research project provided evidence that a number of the Estonian ringed seals spend the winter on the fast ice of the Väinameri, or Straits Sea. Last week we made a reconnaissance trip to the ice of the Suur väin (Great Strait) to explore the ice conditions this year. In Suur väin the breeding conditions for ringed seals seem to be quite good this year. The ice was formed between strong storms, so the ice surface is uneven and there are high piles of  ridged ice in the shallows. At Kesselaid the ice ridges have reached the Kesse cliff.

 

 

 

Suddenly we noticed a small black dot on the ice which, on slowly skiing closer, turned out to be a ringed seal

 

 

This photo was made some years ago when I managed to photograph a ringed seal mother with her pup through the telescope. Now the pups should be already crawling out from the snow caves in good weather.

 

 

The seal mothers hide their pups under ice ridges in snow caves, and they are difficult to spot, but when skiing on sea ice you can sometimes come across seals’ surfacing holes. Surfacing holes are places where the seals get out of the water on to the ice. Sometimes they are round holes in compact ice but this time we found an oblong opening that had been scraped into an ice crack.

 

 

The warm winters are thought to be the greatest threat to the Estonian ringed seal population since these seals only give birth on ice. Fortunately, there has been enough ice on the sea during the last winters, and our ringed seals will have a satisfactory offspring this year too.

Skiing conditions were very good at Suur väin. The ice was covered by light snow, and the skis ran very well. When going out on sea ice safety equipment must however never be forgotten, as the ice thickness can be uneven and cracks can be hidden under snow.

 

 

We will look for ringed seals, see traces of their activities and see the Kesselaid cliff in ice garb already on the ski tour this Saturday.