Lessons in rescuing our marine life and a trip on the Yorkshire Belle - Julian Norton

The very next day of my Bridlington sojourn would give me the chance to repay some of this kindness. Or, at least, help furnish me with some skills that might be helpful.

I would be taking part in a course to learn about Marine Mammal Rescue, run by British Divers Marine Mammal Life Rescue (BDMLR). It sounded a bit like a splinter group from Thunderbirds.

I met up with Em, the team leader, and the rest of the crew on Bridlington’s north beach, early on Sunday morning.

It happened to be the sunniest and hottest day of the year so far. Already, the mercury was rising and we were rapidly becoming surrounded by sand-castle builders, deckchairs and sunbathers.

We gathered around and I got to know about the work being done by Em and her team.

BDMLR have been involved in rescuing injured marine mammals for the last thirty years or so, particularly after an epidemic of distemper which affected seals in 1988.

The group is based on Yorkshire’s coast and seems to be as busy as it is enthusiastic.

The volunteers regaled stories of seals stuck in unusual places, dolphins who had become stranded and porpoises that found themselves beached – not always on porpoise (sorry, that’s the last time I make that joke).

Of course, seals, which are more prevalent than cetaceans (i.e. dolphins and porpoises), are more than capable of moving themselves around on beaches or rocks using their flippers, so a solitary seal on land is not necessarily in need of help.

The first priority of the volunteers, therefore, is to assess the seal and report their findings to head office.

When furnished with facts (is it injured, for example?) they make a judgement about what to do. Does it need to be left alone and simply monitored, or should it be captured and taken for care and rehabilitation?

The first practical part of today’s training was to learn how to safely restrain a seal for examination. Having spent much of my career in mixed practice and often adapting to challenging circumstances- broken halters, dilapidated cattle crushes, fences or corrals with gaps in, feisty ferrets who don’t like being handled and wild pigs- I felt I already had some skill in this department.

Luckily, today’s task was made even easier because the seal that needed handling was made of rubber and filled with equal parts of sand and seawater.

Rubbery as it was, the seal pup model still was sufficiently cute for us novices to coo!

There was a knack to restraining a seal and transferring it to a transport bag, in the event that it needed veterinary care or hospitalisation.

By the afternoon, the beach was packed and it was even hotter. Unfortunately, this coincided with the part of the course where we learnt how to return a beached dolphin to the sea.

More equipment was needed, partly because we’d be in the water for a protracted period.

I had my wetsuit, not used much since my triathlon days, but others were sporting full-on dry-suits, life jackets and helmets to recreate the situation exactly.

We wrapped the rubber dolphin in wet cloths to keep it cool, though it was the volunteers I felt needed more cooling down.

Importantly, as water was poured over its back, the blow hole needed to be covered to avoid water entering the airways.

By the end of the day, I felt very well educated in this new task and have volunteered my services for the future.