The world’s largest colony of northern gannets lives on a single island.
Bass Rock in Scotland's Firth of Forth is home to over 150,000 occupied nests. More than one tenth of the North Atlantic gannet population perch here, beak by jowl, jostling for space in this noisy colony. It is amazing that the birds return to the same nests after their fishing expeditions.
Bass Rock is the place where the gannets were first studied in detail and given their scientific name, Morus Bassanus, reflecting the name of the rock itself.
Survival
Overall, 52 species of bird in the UK are considered to be at high risk as widespread destruction of land habitats and food sources have taken their toll. Seabirds have survived much better than their woodland and farmland counterparts. Even so, the downward trend in seabird populations in the past few years is worrying. Rising sea temperatures are affecting the population of sand eels that many seabirds feed on.
Murky past
Bass Rock is also famous for its sinister, murky past. During the 16th century, the castle was converted into a remote and barbarous state prison for Presbyterian ministers. They were locked in the dungeons for anything up to 6 years. The prisoners were charged for everything they ate and drank. If they had no money then they were forced to eat dried salt fish with only rock puddles as a source of putrid water.
