The Bass Rock is synonymous with gannets. Just take a look at this picture, taken during the breeding season (February to October), and its easy to see why. The rock turns white! Not with guano but with the sun reflecting off the backs of well over 100,000 white feathered Northern Gannets.
This makes it the world's single largest gannet colony. But as has been pointed out to me by more than one visitor, the word 'single' is all important. For without it St. Kilda claims the title as collectively this famously remote archipelago of islands is indeed bigger.
Many visitors will then mention how the St. Kildans actually ate gannets. But guess what - so did we. In fact, here in East Lothian, Scotland, we have a great claim to worldwide fame. The first piece of conservation legislation to be passed came into being here in 1592 when King James VI made it an offence for anyone other than the Lauders, who owned the Bass Rock from him, to harvest the gannets. Thus granting Royal protection to the Bass Rock gannets. Or more accurately, Solan Geese, as they were known in Scots (coming from the Old Norse word for gannet, Sula). However, this was not a rule born out of any Kingly concern for Europe's biggest seabirds but rather a base concern for the money in his pocket. You see, James made money out of the Lauders' controlled harvesting of the gannets by taxing it. If all and sundry nabbed a Guga for their tea he couldn't make any money.
That said, gannets have been traditionally hunted, or harvested, all around Scotland. With between 50 to 60% of the world's gannet population choosing to breed here you'd be daft not to take advantage of this ready source of protein, feathers and omega oils. Our reliance on this seabird bounty was born out of necessity. Scotland is not a historically easy place to live and if our seacliffs, which are among the tallest in Europe, happen to be full of birds and eggs then that's a gift worth taking advantage of. Here in East Lothian we stopped this harvesting in 1905 when the local council ruled that the gannets should be left in peace. But in the Outer Hebrides things are done differently.
In fact on the island of Lewis the Leodhasach (Scots Gaelic for a Lewisian) still harvest gannets from their nearest colony, Sula Sgeir. The folk from Ness in the North of Lewis have a special dispensation to harvest gugas (the young gannets) as the hunt is identified as a crucial part of their cultural identity. This harvesting is no mean feat as Sula Sgeir is 40 miles away from Lewis! Each year, Covid allowing, the Leodhasach head out in their boats to bring back their bounty for the pot.
It's a very particular flavour and not one too many have personally experienced these days so it was a bit of a privilege to meet Iain and Anne Stewart, from Lewis who have both partaken of this particularly Scottish feast.
Iain and Anne, pictured here when they joined us on a trip around the Bass Rock recently, told me how Iain took part in the guga hunt. He joined the men sailing out into some of Scotland's roughest seas and headed for the inhospitable spit of rock that is Sula Sgeir. A rock that is no more than 900 metres long and 100 metres wide with a lighthouse sitting atop of it and thousands of gannets perched all around.
Anne is the local Lewisian, with Gaelic as her first language, and Iain hails from Haddington which maybe helps explain why when prompted about how the guga tastes, Iain replied "disghusting". Anne, on the other hand, said "delicious" and that it was best eaten with boiled tatties and a big glass of milk!
I think I'll pass on trying it (if I ever have the opportunity). But even if I wanted to I wouldn't be able to pop over to Lewis and bag a guga for my tea - as local Lewis band Peat and Diesel sing about. This delicacy is the strict preserve of those who hail from this remote part of the world and won't be appearing on the shelves of your local Sainsburys or Tesco any time soon.
And for those of you who wonder about what it must be like to cook Europe's largest seabird, then take a hint from one of Scotland's great authors, Sir Walter Scott. He went so far as to ban the cooking of gannet from his home, Abbotsford House in the Borders, as it absolutely stank!
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