Horsey Gap & Winterton-on-Sea, Norfolk, November 2025
Every autumn and winter, thousands of grey seals haul out along this stretch of the Norfolk coast to give birth, making Horsey Gap and neighbouring Winterton-on-Sea home to one of the largest grey seal colonies in England. Pups arrive with a white lanugo coat that they shed after a few weeks, and through the pupping season the beach fills with resting adults and newborn pups, with seals coming and going from the surf.
A November 2025 visit landed right in the middle of pupping season, with proper wild Norfolk weather to match: squally showers chased by bursts of low winter sun threw two full rainbows over the dunes at Horsey Gap, while pups tumbled and rode the wave foam at the water's edge. A walk south along the coast to Winterton-on-Sea traded the drama for quieter dune-grass backdrops, more resting adults and pups, and one memorable close encounter between an adult and a curious pup.
