Northern Gannets Morus bassanus plunge diving, Noss, Shetland
Taking a boat-trip (weather allowing!) to see the spectacular gannetry at Noss is an essential part of any visit to Shetland, and it is an intrinsic component of Shetland Wildlife's holidays. There are plenty of other seabirds present there too, but this film concentrates on the many Northern Gannets Morus bassanus that adorn the cliffs, and follow the boats in the hope of being fed. This activity can be viewed from such a close distance that powerful telephoto lenses may be too powerful, and they may need to be complemented by lenses with shorter focal distances, including wide-angle, if photographers wish to portray all aspects of their behaviour. However, a single lens operating over a wide range will suffice for capturing these birds on video or as still photographs. There may be a need to manually compensate when filming or photographing white birds against dark backgrounds (or vice versa) though, and this can be tricky when taking video as the subject gets close as the light-metering will be affected. Following a short series of still, uncropped, photographs, this film shows Gannets following the boat, and then plunge-diving as they attempt to reach the bait before any rivals can beat them to it. The angle of the dives is therefore often shallower than it might be if they were diving at high speed from height to a greater depth. An occasional Bonxie, or Great Skua Stercorarius skua also puts in an appearance, but the breeding population of this piratical bird on Shetland was badly hit by bird 'flu', and therefore there are fewer attempted 'robberies' than there used to be during these trips. These noisy aerobatic displays are simply fantastic!
