Birds of Bass Rock

BASS ROCK AND CRAIGLEITH BIRDS, September 2013, June 2014 and *September 2015
This gallery is made up of photographs taken on two recent boat trips around Bass Rock and Craigleith – two islands in the Firth of Forth. Unfortunately the September trip required a very early start and that, together with subsequent poor weather, particularly around Craigleith, reduced somewhat the photo opportunities. The June trip saw much better weather and the opportunity to photograph (largely on Craigleith) some of the birds missed in September, especially Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots. These mostly, together with Shags and some Cormorants, breed on Craigleith. Bass Rock is famous for the massive breeding colony of Gannets that abide there (c 150,000 birds) and they didn’t let us down on either occasion. Both ventures were with Braveheart Boat Trips of North Berwick. The boat was well suited to photography and our Skipper, Dougie, was extremely knowledgeable of both the birds and the history of the islands. Highly recommended.
There are rather a lot of Gannet photos in this gallery, and even more not used here. My only excuse is that seeing the Gannets at Bass Rock is a quite spectacular, and not to be forgotten, experience. On this occasion I have not added any additional information to individual file names but hopefully viewers will be able to pick out those photos showing things like the collection of seaweed for nests, female birds (e.g. the Eiders) etc. Juvenile Gannets (speckled grey/brown plumage) can be seen in photos 01 to 03 and immature birds (up to 3 years, large black areas) in photos 04 and 05 as well as elsewhere. Those photos with a file name prefaced by ‘z’ are included only as records of other birds seen together with Gannets diving and a Grey Seal.
*New visit, much better weather than 2013. Additions are: Cormorant (02-05); Gannet (33-42); Black-headed Gull (02); Greater Black-backed Gull (01); Herring Gull (07); Peregrine (02-03); Shag (16-19); and a somewhat improved Grey Seal (02).