0:00:02 > 0:00:06At the wild frontier, where the Atlantic ocean divides
0:00:06 > 0:00:10around the granite skirts of Lands End
0:00:10 > 0:00:12one man pursues his passion.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Stephen Westcott has spent two decades
0:00:17 > 0:00:19exploring this remote coastline.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25And uncovering the secret life of Cornish grey seals.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36- RADIO:- Lyme Regis to Lands End - occasionally gale eight at first.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40I think of this place as the edge of the world.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44My working life is spent in this dynamic margin,
0:00:44 > 0:00:45between the familiar land
0:00:45 > 0:00:48and the less predictable ocean rim.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50I started off by loving surfing
0:00:50 > 0:00:52and being in the sea.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56Now, I'm in the sea every day, studying creatures that live between
0:00:56 > 0:00:58the land and the sea every day.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00The attraction was,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04very little work had been done - which was a great shock to me.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06I thought, well, it's so easy to find out,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08as long as you are able to...
0:01:08 > 0:01:10to live with the sea, as it were. And I can.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15From July onwards, the seals are breeding
0:01:15 > 0:01:17and I'm busy looking for their secret pups.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Because pup numbers are a reliable sign
0:01:20 > 0:01:22of how well the local seals are doing.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31The problem is, with the sea raging, I can't get onto the water.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36But by low tide, I know of other routes to explore the seals' domain.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42At the top of this boulder beach is a narrow sea cave
0:01:42 > 0:01:44which might shelter what I'm after.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Now, what we've got here,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56is a pool that's about 20 metres long and about 4 metres wide.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Unfortunately, there's a seal mother in the pool there,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04I don't really want to go beyond it.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07But if we're to find how many pups are born in this cave this year,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10it has to be done while conditions are good.
0:02:11 > 0:02:12Ready to proceed?
0:02:13 > 0:02:16SPLASHING Ugh!
0:02:16 > 0:02:18HE EXHALES
0:02:23 > 0:02:26I'd just like her to submerge! SEAL SNORTS
0:02:29 > 0:02:31That's better.
0:02:31 > 0:02:32It's better.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34OK, let's go. WATER SPLASHES
0:02:43 > 0:02:47If you look about you here, you see a cave that's cathedral high,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49so it's a wonderful place to be in, just in itself.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51SEAL GROANS
0:02:51 > 0:02:53In this amazing environment,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57this most improbable environment, the seal pups are born.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Which seems something of a miracle.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06I'd say this pup is at least two weeks old -
0:03:06 > 0:03:09it's actually getting close to the point where it will be weaned.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12After they're weaned,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15after they've been in the world for less than three weeks,
0:03:15 > 0:03:19they then have to teach themselves to swim if they haven't learned already.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23And then, they also have to teach themselves to forage for food.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26And they do this by diving repeatedly for...
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Well, for stuff... PUP SNORTS
0:03:29 > 0:03:31For stuff like this.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33For seaweed, for stones,
0:03:33 > 0:03:34for seashells.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37STEVE SNORTS LOUDLY
0:03:39 > 0:03:41I make that sound just to be reassuring.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47Bit of a shock for a little seal pup to see a human come into a place
0:03:47 > 0:03:50where it's only seen seals and surf and rock and sand and seaweed.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55But for me, it's half-familiar,
0:03:55 > 0:03:59but it's never going to be a place to be complacent.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01I can never afford to be complacent in a place like this.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09As the tide turns, the cave has become less safe.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12It's time to leave.
0:04:12 > 0:04:13A fragment of beach will remain,
0:04:13 > 0:04:15where the pup will stay high and dry.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26For the adults though, they're in their element,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30and I love to watch them dance in a sea that would pulverise me.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36There's an amazing amount of vitality here in the water, as you can see.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39And yet the seals, you look at them and they're hardly moving at all,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43despite all the massive movements of waters going on.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47It's as if their full of holes, as though the power of the sea
0:04:47 > 0:04:49goes through them and doesn't have any effect.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Seals are the reason for me to explore this enchanted world.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04But it's more than just them.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08It's kestrels mastering the updraughts.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11Turnstones in the mussel beds.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18It's the light, the colours... The everything.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31The water is calmer today,
0:05:31 > 0:05:33it's time to unleash the waveski.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35WOLF WHISTLE
0:05:38 > 0:05:41Perfect conditions to paddle out to Great Cave.
0:05:55 > 0:05:56Yee-hoo!
0:05:56 > 0:05:59This is an island where the birds nest in the spring time -
0:05:59 > 0:06:01shags and herring gulls.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Up here.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07And if you look at the patterning on the walls here,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11for me this resembles nothing more than the hide of an elephant.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13LOUD SPLASHING
0:06:13 > 0:06:14Female seal.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Good sign.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Good sign - possibility of pups.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24And dead ahead of us is the entrance to the cave, proper.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32The waveski gives me access to these remote nurseries.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36At high tide, they echo to the thunderous drumming of the sea.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40WAVES CRASH AND SEALS GROAN
0:06:42 > 0:06:44HE LAUGHS
0:06:46 > 0:06:49This is another seal pup in tremendously good condition.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Very powerful, clearly not disturbed
0:06:51 > 0:06:53by either the sound or the smell of us.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56See the way it moves -
0:06:56 > 0:06:57it lifts the front of the body up,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00does a sort of breaststroke through the sand.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03But the hind part of the body is dragged along the sand,
0:07:03 > 0:07:04in effect as a dead weight.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08PUP CRIES
0:07:08 > 0:07:11This cry is saying, "I'm hungry, I want my mum to come and feed me",
0:07:11 > 0:07:14this isn't distress because of our proximity.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21What makes this such a great cave for pups to be born in -
0:07:21 > 0:07:26there's always a beach at high tide, which is ideal.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30But the other thing about this cave which is so wonderful is,
0:07:30 > 0:07:34when this pup is one year old, 5 years old...
0:07:34 > 0:07:3625 years old,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39it'll come to this cave to moult, and it'll do that
0:07:39 > 0:07:43in a great assembly of seals, perhaps as many as 50 lying on this beach.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46And all of them moulting, in the heart of winter.
0:07:52 > 0:07:53On the way out of the cave,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56there was one final treat in store.
0:07:57 > 0:07:58It's a pup!
0:08:00 > 0:08:02It's just down on the bottom,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04just down here for the minute.
0:08:05 > 0:08:06Here.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14There he is!
0:08:18 > 0:08:22I always feel it's a priviledge to witness such a rite of passage.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26A pup, leaving the darkness and sanctuary of the cave,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30and swimming through the threads of sunlight to the ocean beyond.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33For me, there's no sweeter inspiration.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Subtitles by Erika Graham Red Bee Media Ltd
0:08:52 > 0:08:54E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk