It has been a record year for the Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary

They have coped with more than twice the usual number of abandoned and injured seal pups over the summer.

Michelle Oriss, seal nurse, said: "We have had far more in than we expected. We normally get half a dozen, but it is in double figures this year."

The sanctuary also has some resident seals, who arrive injured but cannot be returned to the wild.

She said it was hard to explain why there so many seals needing help in the last 12 months, or why they were coming in so late in the year.

Staff have to get the seals to fend for themselves before returning them to the wild.

You need to think with a clear head but it is very easy to become too attached Michelle Oriss, Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary

She said: "They are usually in for a couple of months, and come in as pups, for the most part.

"They spend a couple of months here learning to feed on their own and getting over their problems and we hopefully de-humanise them and send them back into the wild."

The seals have the names of chocolate bars, such as Flake and Mars and it is planned to release some of them in the new year.

Ms Oriss said staff have to try and distance themselves emotionally from the seals, but said: "You need to think with a clear head but it is very easy to become too attached."