Sunday June 29th
I saw the first one from a plane and it was gleaming white over the wrinkled sea. Then I saw three more. Gannets, they were: the great spear-billed dive-bombers of the seas. Not easy birds to see unless you’re on a boat. But I was flying to Alderney – one of the Channel Islands, but you knew that – to get closer to them than most people can.
It was evening when I touched down, and Roland Gauvain, manager of the Alderney Wildlife Trust was there to meet me with the most solicitous question possible. .
“Pint or birds?”
“Both please.”
So out we drove to a bit of rugged coast – not a hard thing to do on this tough little island—and I walked seawards. In about three and a half minutes I was looking at as wonderful a sight as I have ever seen, and I’ve spent a fair time looking.
It was a rock. Completely white, like a wedding cake. White with gannets, and painted whiter still with the droppings of dynasties. Here was a seabird city. Its inhabitants are a good six feet, almost two metres in wingspan and fly with a power and purpose few birds can match.
One gannet is a thing of wonder: this gathering of all but 6,000 nesting pairs was way beyond that. I gazed for a while entranced. Good birding – good wildlifing of any kind – is like that quite often. Never mind species, or number, or age, or plumage details: just look at the wonderful bloody thing and rejoice.
The following day I’d be getting rather closer, Roland said.
Great pint.
18 months ago, we went for a weekend to Cley-Next-The-Sea. Having arrived, we walked down to the shore (never far away if you’re actually in Cley). There was a sea mist obscuring the wind farm out to sea, so the incoming migrants were hugging the coast (for surer navigation, I guess). A couple of “gulls” (I thought) were flying slowly along the shore…and when one of them suddenly turned head-down and dived straight into the sea (from about 20-30 feet up), I suddenly burst out “Gannets!”. The only other time we had definitely seen them was heading out of a Queensland Harbour to the Great barrier Reef through a rough sea (absolute dead calm at the Reef!), and there were droves of them heading straight down into the waves. Sea-sick as I was, the sight was glorious – made more so by the dolphins leaping through the same waves.
On a visit to Alderney, with my Guernsey cousins, we managed to get a boat ride round the island, which included a view of Les Etacs. Will never forget it. Awesome sight. Very smelly too!
The RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs, near Bridlington, is a great place to see gannets too.
I saw them last week off the Farnes but we see them quite regularly off the North East Coast. Never ceases to fill me with wonder. So majestic.