Grey is the new black this Christmas. Well at least it is at the Milford Haven Seal Hospital.

The hospital is currently home to Baldwin, a six week old Atlantic grey seal, who unusually is completely black.

Terry Leadbetter coordinator of Welsh Marine Life rescue, who runs the hospital, explained that Baldwin's unusual colour is due to an excess of melanin.

In his 18 years of rescuing mammals Terry has only encountered three black seals.

Baldwin, named after the American poet James Baldwin, was rescued from Newport beach on Sunday.

The seal hospital is currently naming all their pups after literary figures and the name was suggested by a woman on the beach.

He was discovered by a member of the public who rang Milford Haven coastguard HQ. In no time at all Terry and his team of dedicated volunteers were at the beach.

They found Baldwin weak and hungry and unable to fend for herself and took him back to the hospital.

"He's very very thin and was starving," said Terry who thinks that Baldwin would have been separated from his mother in the recent stormy seas. He then lost the weight that he would have put on while being fed by his mother.

He is currently being force fed at the seal hospital while he learns to feed himself. His stomach has shrunk from lack of food and he is on a diet if two fish a day and a liquid supplement.

However, once Baldwin learns to feed himself Terry anticipates that he will put on about two kilos a day and be ready to be released into the wild in two weeks.