ON THE WILD SIDE

Britain is the single most

1 important place in the world for gannets. Half of all the northern gannets nest here. They return to the same places every year on otherwise uninhabited rocky islands.

Most of their nesting sites are in Scotland, the largest at Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, with

150,000 birds every year coming to raise their young.

But they don’t have to be nesting for you to see them. Gannets are our largest seabird, with nearly a two-metre wingspan. Their binocular vision is just like that of a human. They have half the density of wing muscles than other birds, so need to warm up to take off, but it allows them better manoeuvrability in the water.

Their hunting technique

3 involves dropping into the water like an arrow at over

60mph, putting a serious strain on the body. Gannets have an in-built airbag that inflates when they breathe in and cushions the blow of smacking into the water.

They also have no external nostrils, as water rushing up your nose at 60mph would give you more than just a bad headache.

We associate gannets with greed, but they don’t overeat and gannet is actually an old word for goose.

They lay a single blueish

4

egg which hatches into a dark blue or black baby. A high number of chicks die early because their clumsy mothers accidentally crush them.

Gannets are protected by

5

law, but were historically eaten as an appetiser by Scottish royalty. Once a year, 10 men are still allowed to take around 2,000 “guga” – baby gannets – from the uninhabited Scottish island of Sula Sgeir.

I like the babies where they are, but the hunt is deemed sustainable as gannet numbers are thankfully on their way up.