Plunge-diving gannets

Bass Rock, Scotland

If you’ve ever wondered where the northern gannet gets its scientific name Morus bassanus, then a visit to Bass Rock should put an end to your contemplation. Bassanus … Bass Rock – yes, the bird gets its name from this volcanic plug squatting in the outer edges of the Firth of Forth. Some 75,000 pairs breed and raise their chicks here, almost a fifth of the global population, and the sight of even 10 of them hanging in the air, those lovely emulsion-white feathers gently tousled by the wind, before the inevitable, stomach-churning plunge, is enough to melt even the hardest of hearts. Then add this to the mix: gannets are a wildlife success story. Numbers in the UK have increased by a third in a decade and on the rock by more than 50 per cent in the same period. That such a tiny island – roughly the size of four football pitches – that was once home to Christian hermits and later a notorious prison should come to be so significant a site for our largest seabird surely gives some grounds for optimism.

Best of the rest WOLF-TRACKING CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS, ROMANIA & SLOVAKIA

Wolf-tracking is best from January to March.

VULTURE FEEDING STATIONS PYRENEES, SPAIN

The one at Garganta de Escuaín in Ordesa National Park even attracts rare bearded vultures.

BROWN BEARS HIDES ALUTAGUSE, ESTONIA

Bears visit hides May to mid-July and Sept to October.