The hunk of rock above is Out Stack, which happens to be the northernmost point of Britain. It’s located a short way north of Muckle Flugga Lighthouse, which is a short way north of the Shetland Isles.
I certainly wasn’t on my own, out on the water up there on top of the UK. The skies were full of gannets from the colonies on the rocks of Muckle Flugga, intermittently diving for food. Whenever one surfaced from a dive with a fish in his mouth, he would instantly be mobbed by scores of great skuas (aka ‘Bonxies’) who would harass and even physically assault the gannet until he dropped his food…leading to another ugly scrap, this time amongst the skuas.
Although time and tide dictated that I was supposed to be moving on, I spent a full hour floating in this one spot, watching this extraordinary and unending spectacle unfold around me.
