Northern Gannets on Bass Rock, North Berwick, during August 2023

I spent a week in August at the Edinburgh Festival, but took a day off during that time in order to go on a boat trip to see the Northern Gannets on Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth at North Berwick.

View of Bass Rock from North Berwick

Northern Gannets and their young fluffy Guga on Bass Rock

Close-up view of three Adult Northern Gannets

Adult and young Gannets on the rock

View of Bass Rock as the boat is leaving Bass Rock and stops for a photo opportunity

Northern Gannets on Bass Rock, Firth of Forth, Scotland

In August I went with friends to the Edinburgh Festival.  I again took a day off while there in order to get away from the crowds of humans and instead see crowds of birds - thousands of Northern Gannets that cover Bass Rock in the summer in order to breed and have their chicks - guga.

This is a view of Bass Rock taken from North Berwick on the mainland.  The rock is white with the Gannets that cover it for a few months in the summer.  The photo was actually taken later in the day, after our boat ride, as the sun came out for five minutes.

It was actually a dismal rainy day and we were on an open boat!  We were very determined to go on the journey to the rock.  However, when we got to the rock, it stopped raining so I was able to get my camera out and take some photographs.  The building near the lighthouse used to be a prison many years ago.  The white blobs are all Gannets!

I managed to get a couple of close-up photographs of Gannets with fluffy guga chicks.  The guga in the photo below is all huddled up and looks a bit cold and miserable.

This guga looks nice and fluffy and is much happier.

The birds were everywhere.  It was a very impressive sight and very deafening!

Redshanks and Mallards enjoying Musselburgh lagoons in Scotland

I went to Edinburgh in August in order to attend the Edinburgh Festival during it's second week, but took some time off from city life in order to do some bird-watching.  My Bass Rock (North Berwick) gannets and Musselburgh oystercatchers have had their photographs posted in two previous blogs and I am now trying to catch up with the other birds I saw while I was in Scotland.

I spent a pleasant afternoon in Musselburgh, at Levenhall Links nature reserve, after having trouble finding it - spending about half-an-hour longer than necessary during the walk from the centre of the town to the race-course and the reserve that was hidden behind it.  However, it was very rewarding, even though the birds were mainly in the distance at the other end of the lagoons.

The nearest birds were a few Redshanks, that were busy paddling and looking for food in the rather picturesque lagoons.  They, too, really were too far away for good photographs, but were a lot nearer than the hundreds of oystercatchers that were covering the lagoons

Two Redshanks are shown below, knee deep in the water, and one has it's back to me (as usual).

The Redshank below looks as though it is admiring the lovely grasses that are growing round the edge of the lagoon.

Here there are three Redshanks, all looking for food.  I love the pattern of grasses, algae and reflections in the water of the lagoon.

Two of the three Redshanks in the photograph below are exercising their wings.  Actually one of these Redshanks was limping and I hope it will be OK.

After the wing exercises, it's back to searching for food.

There were also a couple of Mallards who were enjoying scooping up algae, or whatever, from the surface of the water.

In this picture, I have my normal view of a duck's bum.

Later, it was back to the wading birds.  Here is a rather fat Redshank that is standing on one leg.

On leaving the Levenhall Links nature reserve, I had to walk near the edge of a lake - or loch, as it is called in Scotland - where I found a pretty Grey Wagtail hopping along the rocks at the edge of the water.  It kept trying to hide from me, but I managed to get a photograph of it anyway.

In order to get back to the centre of Musselburgh, I walked along the footpath by the River Esk where I encountered a very common sea-bird, a Herring Gull, that was standing on one leg on a wall near the river.  I have added it's photograph because I love it's yellow beak and beady eye.

Gannets on Bass Rock, North Berwick, Scotland

Last week I went with a large group of friends to Edinburgh for the Festival.  We spent 6 nights in University student flats near the Pleasance Courtyard and we all had a great time.

I did not want to miss out on bird-watching while I was in Scotland, so made sure to take some time off from the shows and hustle-and-bustle of an extremely busy Edinburgh.  Last year some of us went to North Berwick for the day and I was amazed and very pleased to discover the delights of a boat trip round Bass Rock to see the thousands of gannets covering the island.  We went again last Tuesday and, again, it was a hot and sunny day - just right for a trip to the sea-side.

It is a short train ride from Edinburgh Waverley station to North Berwick and then about 15 minute walk from the station to the harbour.  We boarded Sula II for the first trip round Bass Rock at 12.00 noon.  The present boat has been running since 1972 and is built from Honduras mahogany.   It is unique among the boats sailing from North Berwick.  The name "Sula" comes from the Latin, Sula bassanus, now Morus bassanus, which is a species of gannet, of which many thousands inhabit the Bass Rock.

The photograph below shows the rock as we approach it.  It is covered with white moving objects, which look just like flowers from the distance.

When the boat got near to the rock, we could see that all the surfaces were covered with truly beautiful gannets and their chicks.  The juveniles take several years to reach adult-hood, so some were fluffy and white, some were fluffy and white/grey mix, some were grey and some were white and almost adult.

I think that the adult gannets have beautiful faces and colouring.  I love them!

It was just staggering to see so many birds covering any surface on the rock that would hold them.

Obviously, not all the gannets were sitting on the rock.  There were thousands flying around the rock and floating in the sea.  In the photograph below, I managed to capture a juvenile gannet in flight.

We sailed right round the island and there were gannets everywhere.

It is impossible to describe the feeling of seeing thousands of gannets on the rock, in the sea and flying around in the air above us.  It was absolutely amazing!  Below is a photograph of the old cannon that is on top of Bass Rock, with birds flying around in all directions.  There used to be a prison on the island and I guess the cannon was part of the rock's protection.

We sailed all the way round the Rock and I was fascinated with all the gannets flying above us.  I had made sure that I had a windproof jacket with a hood with me, which I had put on.  As the Captain said when we set sail, anything that comes from the sky is not snow!  

The lighthouse is now unmanned and the ruins on the old prison are below it.  Gannets cover the rocks on this side of the island too and many thousands are circling in the sky.

What an amazing experience and one that I will not forget in a hurry.  I enjoyed changing the crowds of people in Edinburgh for the crowds of gannets in North Berwick.

After fish and chips sitting outside in the sun and a walk along the beach, we headed back to the station for the journey back to Edinburgh and another Festival show.

The next day, I checked the Sula II's sailing on that Tuesday and discovered that the next trip at 2pm only managed to go halfway round the Rock before they had to turn back as the wind was too strong for them to continue - so we were very lucky to have gone on the noon sailing.