Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Gannet numbers soaring off northwest coast

Gannets
Gannets

A study of gannets off the northwest coast has found the birds’ numbers have increased rapidly over the last decade _including the area where baby gannets or guga are hunted.

The latest results confirm particularly northwest Scotland is an extremely important region for gannets, one of our most spectacular seabirds.

The SNH-commissioned survey found that gannets nesting at Sule Skerry where local people are licensed to hunt a controlled number of the young birds, increased at a rate of more than 47% per year.

On the Flannan Islands, the growth was 7.5% per year. Numbers changed very little on St Kilda, now the world’s second-largest gannet colony after Bass Rock, and Sule Stack.

Gannets are Scotland’s largest seabird, weighing between 2.5 to 3.5kg, with nearly a 6ft wingspan. They migrate to the west coast of Africa, and sometimes further, in the winter. They only lay one egg and pairs typically mate for several seasons, if not for life.

 Gannets during the breeding season on  Bass Rock, the largest single island gannet colony in the world, which lies in the Firth of Forth off the coast of Scotland.
Gannets during the breeding season on Bass Rock, the largest single island gannet colony in the world, which lies in the Firth of Forth off the coast of Scotland.

The good health of gannets across Scotland may be explained by their foraging behaviour. They can fly for great distances in search of food, and are able to take a wide range of prey species – features which may make them more resistant to changes in the marine environment compared with other birds. They also usually nest at sites which have few predators, have produced lots of chicks over the past decade, and have high survival rates.

Both Sule Skerry and the Flannan Islands have plenty of unused but suitable nesting habitat, and this may explain why the number of gannets in these particular colonies has increased. This contrasts to the stable numbers on Sule Stack, where gannets already occupy all the suitable breeding areas. This may lead to gannets establishing new colonies, as has already occurred at Sule Skerry, and may also be happening at Barra Head.

Eileen Stuart, SNH’s head of policy and advice, said: “Scotland has internationally important populations of seabirds, and gannets in particular, so it’s vital that we monitor how they’re faring. The survey is especially good news as gannets are, like many seabirds, of conservation concern.”

Gannets are commonly seen around the Scottish coast throughout the spring, summer and autumn. Breeding colonies such as Bass Rock in East Lothian and Troup Head in Aberdeenshire are great places to watch them.

 Gannets during the breeding season on  Bass Rock, the largest single island gannet colony in the world, which lies in the Firth of Forth off the coast of Scotland.
Gannets during the breeding season on Bass Rock, the largest single island gannet colony in the world, which lies in the Firth of Forth off the coast of Scotland.