Orca’, 2, ‘Last night I returned to RR at about 1600hrs and was greeted by some great wildlife. A new female elephant seal had hauled up and was lying near the foot of the jetty. She was very, very nervous, especially as I tried to sneak around her and I later observed her getting quite agitated by the gulls as she hauled up on the grass and tried to find a comfortable sleeping spot for the night. Late in the evening she eventually settled close to Slash behind the boathouse. This was the first time I had seen this female, and she was definitely a very beautiful female. A few hours later, I went down to the jetty and a juvenile female was just beginning to haul up. However, a few minutes after I spotted her, she turned around and headed back to the ocean. She was not tagged so there was no possibility of her being Ninene or #4252. Around 1600hrs as I landed the boat, I looked up and saw two orcas breach in the channel between Middle Rock and Great Race, heading eastward on the flood current. They disappeared for a while, then breached on the other side of the kelp bed near Middle Rock. For the next minute or so, there was quite a commotion with tail fins flapping in the water and dorsal fins popping to the surface. I expect that these two orcas were hunting seals, which makes me assume that they were two transients passing through the Reserve. Sea lions are now beginning to make more and more of an appearance in the Reserve. There are several on the jetty each night, and some large northern sea lions out on the Rocks. Harbour seals are all now having their pups as well. Pam has caught some fantastic images of pups nursing and a possible placenta in the east bay a few days ago.’, ‘adam’, ’08:52:54 ,