A rainy day on Bass Rock

This summer I spent a period of time in the Scottish Borders region. My main aim was to visit Bass Rock, this is an island situated off the coast near North Berwick and is home to a Northern Gannet colony of over 80,000 birds. On the day of the trip things were looking dreek and damp with a lot of rain in the morning, all I could hope for was some sunlight to break through the giant storm clouds that surrounded me.

After an hour and a half journey across to the island we were finally set to land. The boat that took us to Bass Rock was not luxury to say the least, it was a working fishing boat with no seating and along with all the smells it turned out to be a very interesting journey. Standing up on a rocking boat after a good hearty breakfast can take its toll, trust me. As we approached the island, the stench of gauno is the first thing that hits you and the sound of the gannets is indescribable.

Once climbing the gauno covered steps to the top of the island, I finally got a chance to get the camera out of the bag. The rain was pouring but this did not dampen my spirits, as the rest of the visitors stood there cold and wet I persisted to take as many shots as I could. The rain gave the Gannets feathers a wonderful look and that was the first challenge for myself, I saw a particular Gannet percherd with water droplets almost balancing themsleves on top of its feathers – this to me was a chance to capture the weather and the atmosphere of the conditions that I was working in.

After three hours on the island the sun finally broke through and blue sky was quicky upon us. I had been watching a number of Gannets landing at a certain point for sometime and it was obvious that they were hunting and then returning back to find and feed their young. I knew straight away that shooting into the sun would be a challenge but to get a bird in a perfect postion whilst landing would be even harder. After many failed attempts I finally got that one shot that I had come for and this to me was a huge success!

The final part of my jounrney was the “Chumming” session. This is where the  whole fish and fish parts are thrown into the sea to encourage the Gannets to dive. Seeing this was truly breathtaking and after a number of minutes we were overcome by over 300 Gannets diving at one time. I had never taken so many shots and by the end of this session my memory card was completely full! This whole experience was a dream come true – Gannets are one of the most fascinating and interesting birds to photograph. I hope to be going back to Bass Rock in the future, its a nature must see.