The Bass Rock gannet colony sale, completed with help from National Heritage Memorial and Lottery funds, has transferred one of the world’s most celebrated seabird sites to the RSPB after the Dalrymple family held the island for 320 years. The purchase price was around $680,000 worth of British pounds.
Bass Rock and the neighbouring uninhabited island of Craigleith sit in the Firth of Forth. The Rock holds the ruins of a 14th-century castle and a 17th-century prison once dubbed ‘Scotland’s Alcatraz’, and it has been a source of inspiration in song and literature for generations. Sir David Attenborough described it as one of the ’12 wildlife wonders of the world.’
The World’s Largest Northern Gannet Colony
The Bass Rock gannet colony is no ordinary seabird site. According to the RSPB, it is the world’s largest Northern Gannet colony, home to around 100,000 gannets. A further 10,000 puffins also nest across the two islands.
The Dalrymple family had worked alongside the Scottish Seabird Centre on conservation measures over the years. The Scotsman credited that collaboration with growing the puffin population to five-figure numbers and with eliminating an invasive tree species from the Rock. The partnership has been a working model of what private landownership and specialist conservation bodies can achieve together, though it was ultimately not enough to address the pressures now building around the colony.
Why Sir Hew Dalrymple Decided to Sell
Rising numbers of Scottish seabird fatalities brought Sir Hew Dalrymple to the conclusion that the islands needed a different kind of custodian. ‘I made the decision to do this because of the risk these birds are now facing,’ he told reporters from the island. ‘I thought an organisation like the RSPB would be better equipped to protect the islands and their wildlife than a private individual.’
He was candid about the personal cost. ‘Hence, we have been in discussions and I am glad to say, although with some emotional regret, they are now custodians of these two islands.’
A major offshore wind farm approved nearby accelerated the decision. The development is estimated to have an impact on the gannet colony, adding urgency to a handover that might otherwise have taken longer to reach.
That wind farm threat is not new territory for those working on Bass Rock. The Scottish Seabird Centre has been conducting tracking work at the Rock since 2010, building a detailed picture of how gannets move through the Firth of Forth and into the North Sea. In 2020, three offshore wind developers, Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Ltd, Seagreen Wind Energy Ltd, and SSE Renewables’ Berwick Bank project, agreed to fund that tracking work so that detailed data on gannet behaviour could be collected within the footprints of the developments prior to construction. The result is a body of evidence that the RSPB and the Scottish Seabird Centre can now use to inform how the Bass Rock gannet colony is managed and defended as construction proceeds.
What the Sale Means for the Islands’ Future
Simon Thurley, chairman of both the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, described the purchase as a turning point. ‘For the Memorial Fund, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to secure the islands for the public and ensure that, with RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Seabird Centre at the helm, their role as seabird sanctuaries is protected for the future,’ he said.
The Bass Rock gannet colony now passes into the hands of organisations with the resources and legal standing to contest planning decisions, commission independent science, and manage the land without the constraints that face a private owner. The tracking data already gathered since 2010, and the funding commitments made by the wind developers in 2020, give the new custodians a running start.
The RSPB has confirmed it will manage both Bass Rock and Craigleith as seabird sanctuaries. The next test will come as the nearby offshore wind development moves toward construction, and the tracking evidence gathered over more than a decade is put to use in defending one of the world’s most concentrated gatherings of seabirds.
