IT WAS almost as if they'd caught the scent of salt air as seal pups wriggled about in their cages, anxious for release.

The pups had been recuperating from various injuries at the RSPCA centre at West Hatch, near Taunton. Having been nursed back to health and reached the required 45kg weight for release, freedom and the waves of Woolacombe awaited.

They ambled out when the cages were opened and appeared only slightly curious at all the attention they had attracted on the beach.

First to make a bolt for the surf, true to his name, was Arrowhead, a young male, admitted to the centre from Tremearne, near Porthleven in Cornwall on New Year's Eve, suffering wounds to the chin, fore and hind flippers and with a high temperature.

RSPCA wildlife assistant Ellie West said: "He was the bolshie one — a real character, so I'm not surprised he was the first to disappear."

But the other three, a male named Bittersweet, a female called Periwinkle and another male called Ragwort, were quite content to shuffle down the beach, taking their own sweet time and enjoying the early spring sunshine before hitting the surf.

Bittersweet had been picked up from Guernsey in November, underweight, with abrasions to his flippers and discharge from his eyes, but antibiotics and eye treatment soon sorted him out.

Periwinkle, picked up at Chapel Porth, Cornwall, was suffering from a swollen right hind flipper and multiple puncture wounds, but antibiotics and anti-inflammatory painkillers soon put her on the road to recovery. And Ragwort admitted from Aberystwyth, had been found trapped between rocks, suffering ulcers to the eyes.

RSPCA wildlife supervisor Shawn Clemments said: "We have had a far greater than normal number of pick-ups this season, since about November, because of the stormy weather.

"Usually we'd get between six and 12, but this season it has been closer to 30."

Ellie watched the trio finally dip tentative flippers into the seas as they paddled about, before lurching joyously into the waves.

She said: "This is the best bit of the job. Working with these creatures is a privilege, but you know you haven't done the job properly until you let them go — that's what it's all about."

Meanwhile the last three seal pups spent at least half-an-hour frolicking close to shore, much to the delight of onlookers, before disappearing out of sight.

One little chap not among those released this week, was Thrift who was picked up in Ilfracombe harbour in early February.

Shawn said: "She is still very underweight at about 20kg; she was a very late pup but she is being weighed today and put into the outdoor pool this week, so she should be ready for release in perhaps six weeks time."