British Birds: Unique Gannet Pictures: Meeting and Greeting Gannet Style

This is a delightful photo journal of Northern Atlantic Gannet, an elegant marine bird. The Gannet is an elegant seabird that comes into the coast of Britain to breed. They tend to come back to the same spot every year - and to the same mate. Most Gannet colonies are on islands, but the largest inland colony of Gannets can be found at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire. In this photo journal are displayed unique pictures of Gannets in greeting and bonding displays that are common among mated pairs of adult Gannets.

For those you like facts:

• Order - Pelecaniformes
• Family - Sulidae
• Species - Morus bassanus
• Common name - Gannet
• Length - 34-35 inches
• Wingspan - 5-6 feet
• Weight - 6-7 lbs
• Lifespan - 20 + years

Gannets are particularly elegant birds for their size, indeed they are the largest European seabirds. The adults are pure white with black feathers on the outer edge of the wings, so when they are onland they look as if they have black tail feathers. They have black feet and legs. They have a peach-coloured blush on the head and the nape of the neck. They have a long sharp grey-blue beak with black lining and piercing blue eyes.

In flight the black edging to the wings is evident and the head goes out and forward. They feed by diving deep for fish they spy from high above. The wings are folded back to dive.

Gannets flock together, indeed they are packed solidly in breeding colonies but pairs retain individual relationships that are endearing to watch. One will leave the nest frequently to feed (the chicks are feed by regurgitation) or to collect grass and seaweed. Whenever they come back they go through an elaborate greeting ritual with much beak rubbing and entwining of necks.

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Thanks to everyone for their interest and kind comments. Can I ask you NOT to pin this page or any of the photographs please. All images are copyrighted to me and there are serious implications regarding copyright and Pinterest - if you read their terms and conditions they say they are permitted to sell images that appear there - I need to hold onto my copyright.

many thanks for your understanding.

Grooming each other forms a major part of the bonding of adult Gannets. It is a bit like supp[ing with a long spoon: when your own won't reach - get a friend to help. Those long beaks are handy to rid your partner of pests and to smooth the feathers in those hard to reach places.

At first I thought the returning Gannet was bringing in fresh seaweed for the nest, after all I had watched several bringing in grass and so on. But watching this pair it seemed much more than that, the gifts brought back appear to have been part of the bonding of the adults.

In the pictures below you can see the female with seaweed draped over her back. I had thought it was there by accident but now I'm not so sure. She spent quite some time pulling it this way and that and when the male reappeared she spread her wings so it looked for all the world like a lady with her shawl. In his beak when he came back was fresh grass which was laid in the nest only after some display. Is it my imagination or does she look rather smug? That bill and mouth does tend to give the impression of smiling.

As often as not the answer to that is 'right on the edge'. Gannets can nest on cliff edges that are almost perpendicular as shown in the photos below. It may seem a precarious perch to us but this pair manage to give a fine courtship display while their chick is huddled behind them. Eventually, when the adults are through with the love display, the chick gets in on the act.