Following a visit to Ross Sands with Jamie at dawn on 20^th April 2021, when there were 1000s of seals at the northern end of it, I was reminded  of my pals Julie and Shirley who also love the singing seals, and with whom I’ve been to Ross Sands on a few occasions. Once we saw and heard the seals ourselves, and were in raptures of delight. Shirley headed stealthily towards them with her camera (it’s her photo at the top of this story!) while Julie and I stayed back with their dog, Morar. I decided to write a song about these singing seals and the other things we see there (Bamburgh Castle, Lindisfarne, the Farne Islands, oystercatchers, the sunrise etc etc), and dedicate it to my two wonderful pals. To spur me on, I resolved to get it ready for Julie’s birthday at the beginning of June.

The Lyrics

She wanders the lapping shore
An hour before the foggy dawn
In search of a song. 
The felted castles keep watch
While muted shapes fade in and out of view.
And as the gannets jabber and coil,
And the curlews burble and trill,
The mist enchants the crimson sun to wraith-like above the waves
And a distant, invisible heartbreak of plaintive laments softly brushes her ears.

She wanders the sparkling shore
An hour before the apricot dawn
In search of a song.
The sentinel castle keeps watch
While flaming cloudthreads reach out to snare the sun
And as the stonechats natter and flick
And the sea pie scamper and pipe
A singular head pops up, then, splashing, dips again and draws her north
The full chorale of a thousand singing seals raise their joyous carols to her bursting heart.

The Music

The music is characterised by a flowing, reflective melody accompanied by scrunchy, slightly jazzy chords and a flowing, reflective counter-melody/walking bass line. It has a laid-back feel too.

The recording above has the melody on a tenor voice with the computer providing some guitar-y accompaniment, and there’s a bit of female voice ooh-ing. It was made towards the end of the lockdowns in 2021, so I had to rely on the resources in the house. Since then, I’ve made a version for SATB choir with some divisi, which The Bridge Singers started learning in 2023, but never quite got ready enough to perform. Earlier this year, in March 2025, I made a version for four singers and we (Rebekah, Connor, Jamie and I) performed it to Julie and Shirley as a surprise for Shirley’s almost-birthday. Here’s a short clip of the very beginning and end of that:

Scores

If you’d like to purchase scores of the unison song with accompaniment, click here.

If you’d like to purchase scores of the SATB (with divisi) version, click here.

If you’d like to purchase scores of the SATB (with no divisi) version, click here.