Bass Rock

The Bass Rock is a 100-metre volcanic plug rising sheer from the sea two miles offshore from North Berwick. From May to October it holds the world's largest colony of northern gannets — well over 150,000 birds visible as a swirling cloud and reachable by boat from the Seabird Centre. The rock is so covered in white that mariners historically used its brightness as a landmark.

Landing trips run in calm weather only; most visitors take the one-hour circular cruise that gets close enough to feel the noise and smell of the colony. The rock also has the ruins of a 15th-century castle that briefly held James I of Scotland and was later used as a Covenanter prison.

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In summer, the Bass Rock is so densely packed with northern gannets that it looks white from shore — over 150,000 birds, the largest single-rock colony of any seabird on Earth. Sir David Attenborough called it "one of the wildlife wonders of the world." The rock was also a 17th-century prison for Covenanters, who were jailed there for their religious beliefs in conditions that killed many of them.

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