Innovative research suggests Bass Rock gannet colony may be stabilising - Scottish Seabird Centre
%20Airborne%20Research%20and%20Innovation,%20University%20of%20Edinburgh.JPG "a seabird covered rock with a small property nestled on the stone, all set in a dark blue sea")
Innovative research suggests Bass Rock gannet colony may be stabilising after avian flu outbreak
New research is shedding light on the health of one of the UK’s most important seabird colonies, suggesting it may be stabilising after the devastating outbreak of avian flu in 2022.
A team of researchers from the Scottish Seabird Centre, Edinburgh Napier University, the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences, and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology have been using cutting-edge technology to better understand the health of one of the world’s largest colonies of northern gannets on Bass Rock.
In a first for Bass Rock, a 2025 drone survey captured detailed images of the entire colony, enabling a manual count of approximately 52,459 nesting sites. This suggests that over 100,000 gannets may currently breed on the island each year. Although these findings indicate that numbers may have stabilised since the sharp declines seen after the 2022 avian flu outbreak, the population remains 30% below its previous size.
Researchers have also been monitoring how successfully gannets are raising chicks using remote ground-based cameras. Early results suggest breeding success remains low following the disease outbreak, possibly due to the loss of experienced adult birds and the ongoing challenges seabirds face at sea.