Industrial past and what's a group of seals called?

At the beginning of this month I posted about the disused brick kilns at Ravenscar, a day of voicemails and then some old brick kilns, well here is a Ravenscar brick, and the sign to the kilns and the other local industrial heritage, the old alum works.

In the depths of the countryside

Still making up a path, about half a mile from the old kilns 

I was doing a voluntary ranger patrol on Sunday,  http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/, when I took these photos. Unfortunately my camera does not have a good enough zoom for the even more unusual sight (well for me) of at least ten grey seals way down below me on the beach at the southern end of Robin Hood's Bay. From the distance one was almost white, and at first, without my binoculars I thought some sheep had somehow got down onto the beach and were about to drown in the incoming tide! However the binoculars and the seals' ungainly movements on land prevented me from taking emergency action, and looking a complete fool. Within five minutes they had gone and I was left wondering if it had all been true? So what is the correct name for a group of seals?

Later on a I showed a family walking along the old railway where the disused brick kilns were, they had heard of them, but from the path they are quite hidden by vegetation. One day, I believe, the National Trust hopes to be able to have some signage explaining their history, but as usual finance needs to be found, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/. There is a bit more about the old brick works here, www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/category/industry, I think their picture is nearly as good as mine.

A couple of local people asked me what a voluntary ranger does, I explained as best I could and they seemed satisfied that I was doing something useful,but not interfering with their day to day lives. Some voluntary rangers concentrate on the country bit, I enjoy that, but I am always slightly disappointed if I haven't spoken to anyone whilst I'm doing a patrol. I love walking on my own, but part of being a VR, I think, is being the face of the Park to locals and visitors alike and to do that a bit of chatting is necessary.