Gannets are magnificent seabirds, whose British population occupies many of Scotland’s offshore islands during the breeding season. Between March and September Britain is in fact home to nearly 70% of the world's breeding gannet population, making their habitat internationally important. Gannets feed on shoaling fish such as mackerel and herring and execute high speed, plunging dives from great heights, breaking the surface of the water like bullets. Within breeding colonies, adults and chicks are tightly packed together. Those who wander mistakenly into neighbouring patches are fiercely attacked.

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