Gannets are possibly my favorite bird. They have such contrast between their black wing tips and white bodies. Then when you see them up close, a lovely pale yellow head and beautiful designs on their faces.
20,000 gannets nest here in Fair Isle and have not yet left for the south. My goal today was to walk to the top of Vaasetter point which is the high point overlooking Sheep Craig. An island except at very low tide, it has sheer cliffs on all sides and a flat grassy top. This is the place that the crofters hauled their sheep up by chains for summer feeding.
On the south side of Sheep Craig thousands of gannets nest. To me, heaven. High hill but a comfy place to sit and look down at the gannets and other seabirds, fishing, nesting, soaring around. Also a pretty easy walk along the road then across grassy fields to reach my eyrie. As you see in the photos, a sunny day.
As I watched, many gannets were out fishing and still bringing food for babies. I saw quite many fluffy chicks who are clearly not ready to fly. Some birds born this year are full size and flying but are totally black. Gannets are not mature until age 5 so there were other color variations in the mix too: overall speckled up to white with "piano-key" wings.
When they fish, they hover briefly about 60-70 feet above the water, then close their wings and dive straight down into the sea. Stunning. They chase fish underwater and pop up anywhere--hard to follow a particular gannet.
The other seabirds on the cliffs: puffins, maybe 2,000; fulmars, also thousands; skuas, a few. The razorbills and guillemots have already migrated south.
On my way home, though, I had to cross a field which the skuas seem to think of as their own. Their babies are big enough to fly but the parents are still protective and wanted me out of there.
They made their point by flying at me but never actually hit me. You are supposed to put your hand up above your head as you walk so they will aim for that instead. So, me, flapping my earband above my head, marching across heather. When I reached the road, one of my friends was there laughing and we had good chats about skuas. Easy to laugh from afar.
The photos above are copied from the internet but are what I see in my binoculars. I just have a phone, after all, for photos. Below are several photos of Sheep Craig with the gannet nest site (white area). Puffins are on top and all around in the water. You will just have to come see for yourself.
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| These are photos of Sheep Craig with the gannet area showing. I liked them all so included them all. |
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| From Vaasetter Hill, looking at Fair Isle Bird Observatory and North Harbor, across skua gully. |
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