Diving Gannets

Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, is home to around half a million seabirds between March and October each year. A range of birds settle down here to raise a family on towering chalk cliffs which overlook the North Sea. Of all the birds that nest there, the Northen Gannet is by far the largest and there are thought to be around 11,000 breeding pairs of them on these cliffs alone. 

The Gannet is a beautiful seabird, very elegant in flight and known for its impressive diving ability. Recently, I took a boat trip out just off the cliffs to witness one of natures greatest spectacles. When a large shoal of fish is present the birds will gather in great numbers to dive in and feed. Naturally, arguments and fights will break out between the huge seabirds as they attempt to gather as much fish as they can before its all gone. During this boat trip, the operators simulated this situation by throwing out large buckets of fish – the birds are happy to oblige the boat full of spectators. 

During a restless feeding frenzy, I took thousands of images and literally felt exhausted trying to capture the chaos all around me. This was one of my favourites from those images, I used a smaller lens for this to capture the scene as a whole – you can get an idea of just how many birds were there.