Where to see gannet in the UK

How to find gannet

A gannet has a two-metre wingspan, which sounds abstract until one passes at eye level and you understand why people who don't care about birds stop and watch.

The thing worth travelling for is the fishing. A gannet spots a shoal from thirty metres up, folds its wings back into a shape closer to a dart than a bird, and hits the water at something like sixty miles an hour. When a group finds a shoal, dozens go in at once and the sea looks like it's being shelled. That doesn't happen on schedule — you need fish inshore and a bit of luck — but on a good day it is the most dramatic thing in British wildlife.

Colonies are occupied from February through to September, with the busiest weeks in early summer. Bempton Cliffs is the easiest place in England to stand close to one; Scotland's Bass Rock holds a colony large enough to turn the whole island white from the mainland.

For the diving specifically, sea state matters more than season. Flat calm is pretty but quiet; a light onshore breeze that pushes bait fish close in is what you actually want, and that often means the least comfortable weather to stand around in.

Take something to sit on. Gannet-watching is mostly waiting, and cliff-top grass is wet more often than not.