Gannets...... Bass Rock, Scotland Thurs 20th June 2019.

A Gannet colony is one of the greatest places a bird lover and photographer can go to!

This was my 9th landing on Bass Rock  at the mouth of the Firth of Forth just off North Berwick and perhaps 20 miles from Edinburgh.

I first visited with Dave Thomas in 1984 and made several more landings in the late 80's and also in the 90's.

The place never ceases to amaze me with the colour, the noise and of course the smell!

Numbers have continued to increase and it is the largest Gannet colony in the world... in fact the Scientific name for the gannet is Sula bassana after this rocky outcrop which is actually an old volcanic plug.

There are supposed to be in excess of 150,000 birds but I have to admit I didn't stop to count them.

When we first came we could walk over the concrete path to the far side of the island where the Trinity House guys used to maintain the foghorn. Now everything is automated for the horn & the lighthouse and the gannets are now covering almost all of the rock.

There are now a handful of pairs nesting at St.Abbs head amongst the guillemot colony a few miles down the coast.

Here are a couple of short video clips, apologies for the wind noise !