This landscape photograph shows Bass Rock, off the coast of North Berwick, Scotland, with a lone gannet flying in the blue sky.
Bass Rock is a steep-sided volcanic rock, 107 meters (351 ft) at its highest point. It is home to the world’s largest single rock colony of gannets, with over 150,000 birds. Viewed from the mainland, the surface of the rock appears white due to the number of birds and their droppings.
The rock is currently uninhabited, but historically has been settled by an early Christian hermit, and later was the site of an important castle, which was later used as a prison.
The island was in the ownership of the Lauder family for almost six centuries, and now belongs to Sir Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple.
The Bass Rock Lighthouse was constructed on the rock in 1902, and the remains of a chapel are located there.
The Bass Rock features in numerous works of fiction, including Robert Louis Stevenson’s Catriona and The Lion is Rampant by contemporary Scottish novelist Ross Laidlaw.
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