Young Gannet

We were on the way out of the harbour on Saturday when we stumbled upon a young gannet. We crept closer and closer to the bird but it did not fly away. On closer inspection we could not see any damage to the bird, so I don't really know why the bird did not fly away. It did flap it's wings in the water but it did not make any attempt to even take off.  It seemed to be ok and looked in good shape but I'm no expert so if anyone out there can tell anything by the pictures I have taken then I would be grateful if you could let me know.

I asked a local fisherman if he knew anything thing about the birds but all I got was the local nickname of the bird.

"He said, Son, we call them burds the Dunbar Man and ye see meer of them birds nu than we ever did. That's why we call them Dunbar Men because wen we were trawlin and yen past we al noticed it as we never seen many. Plus they al see cal them Googers n all but that's more of a Scots name. Bugger son we were lucky to see one never mind wat ya see nuwa days.

After taking a bit of time to cottoning on what he had told me I realized that I should have never asked as I was stuck there for over an hour. Saying that I got some really good stories which will be with me for rest of my life and then I can pass them on.

Sorry, so back to The Dunbar Man, Googer and The Gannet. Enjoy the pictures.