This week, as Spring moves into Summer, I made my first trip of the season to RSPB Troup Head.
Troup head is a wild and unmanned RSPB reserve, nestled between the fishing villages of Pennan and Gardenstown, here on the North East coast of Scotland. The reserve consists of grasslands leading up to dramatic, towering cliffs that are home to Scotland’s only mainland colony of gannets.
Gannets are Britain’s largest resident seabird with a wing-span of almost 2m. They are beautiful, striking birds. In adult plumage, they are brilliant white with black wing tips, a yellowish-orange to cream head, dagger like bill and crystal blue eyes. It is possible to see gannets all year round off the precipitous sea cliffs at Troup Head. However, mature adults, usually over 6 years of age, arrive en mass to breed between April and September.
Gannets began to colonise the cliff at Troup Head back in 1987 and since then, like the rest of the UK population of gannets, numbers have been steadily increasing, with new patches of cliff being colonised each year as the main colony becomes loud and overcrowded. Despite these healthy population numbers, it is known that most gannet deaths are cause by anthropogenic threats; they can become caught in fishing nets and lines and they often collect debris found floating on the sea-surface, such as polyethylene cord, which they combine with seaweed and guano to build their nests. It is not uncommon for the birds to become entangled in this material, resulting in a slow and painful death. This highlights the need for Marine Protected Areas and sustainable fishing methods.
The cliffs are already a hive of bird activity with many other seabird species sharing the ledges with the gannets such as, razorbills, puffins and fulmars. Skylarks can be heard singing over the grasslands and spring squill is ready to emerge and colour the cliffs with its delicate blue flowers. On the odd occasion minke whale can even be seen passing through and Hares bounce across the hillside.
As well as a birds-eye view (!!) of the colony from the top of the cliffs, I was lucky enough to go out on a boat (Courtesy of North East Sea Adventures based in Banff) to view the colony from the Sea. There were puffins and guillemots bobbing around on the water, fulmar and gannets gliding past the boat and a lone cormorant, wings spread, perched on a rocky outcrop. It is an amazing experience and definitely worth doing if you are in the area. On our way back into the harbour we were even lucky enough to watch a large pod of common dolphin cruise past us moving South from Banff towards Macduff.
We have a new webcam set up on the cliff tops, looking down on the colony 24-hours a day and the image is streamed live into Macduff Marine Aquarium. As the season progresses we will hopefully be able to capture some images of adults and their dramatic billing displays, eggs hatching and chick being reared.
The gannet colony at RSPB Troup head really is a unique seabird spectacle not to be missed. We will be celebrating this majestic seabird between 29th June – 4th of August with our very own ‘Gannet Week’. The RSPB will be working with the Macduff Marine Aquarium to bring you lots of fun and informative activities throughout the week.
For more information about this or more on the reserve visit our website or to keep up to date with all RSPB reserves in the North East of Scotland join us on facebook at www.facebook.com/RSPBNorthEastScotland.