Skellig Michael Seabird Photography Excursions — Summer 2026
The season’s first seabird photography excursion out of Caherdaniel, and the Atlantic had other ideas about what kind of trip it was going to be.
Conditions were good. We were working the waters around Skellig Michael — one of Europe’s most important seabird colonies — with gannets doing what gannets do. Plunge diving, squabbling, riding the thermals off the rock. Around 20,000 pairs nest on Skellig Michael, and in early May the colony is at full intensity — birds returning, nest sites being claimed, old scores being settled.
At 13.35 I spotted what looked like a gannet tangled in a plastic bag. Odd, erratic movement on the surface — twisting, thrashing. I had the 600mm lens on the camera so I fired off a series.
It wasn’t a plastic bag.
It was two gannets, locked together — one bird’s head fully inside the other’s gape. What followed was five minutes of extraordinary struggle.
Bills interlocked, wings thrashing, both birds low in the water and fighting to separate. The sequence ran to over 60 frames before they finally broke free at 13.38.
One bird flew away. The other tried but looked completely exhausted.
I’d never seen anything like it. That evening I contacted Dr Mark Jessop, seabird researcher at University College Cork, and sent him the images.
His response put it in context:
“I have seen something similar at other gannet colonies. Gannets are pretty aggressive, and at this time of year are establishing nests and fighting over prime nesting sites. ….. Great images – and definitely consistent with an extended fight, most likely over nesting space that has resulted in them continuing in the water. Even when established and on chicks, neighbours will often have some nasty fights over perceived infractions of space -They are the original ‘angry birds’.”
That explained exactly what I was looking at. Two males, evenly matched, fighting for a specific nest ledge in a colony of 20,000. The irony isn’t lost — by the time either of them made it back, the ledge was almost certainly gone.
The big lens pulled in detail I couldn’t have anticipated — including one frame where the inner bird’s pale blue eye is looking straight down the lens, calm as you like, while its head is inside another gannet.
Skellig Michael Seabird Photography Excursions — Summer 2026
This is what’s possible when you’re in the right place with the right equipment and enough time on the water. The excursions run from Caherdaniel, and we transfer from Kenmare and Sneem. We can accommodate small groups of three, with full guidance on species, behaviour, and technique throughout.
We still have good availability for the 2026 season. Find out More here/
