Gannet

Gannet

Morus bassanus
Gannet, Allan Drewitt

Introduction

With its two metre wingspan, warm yellow head, white body and black wingtips, this impressive bird will be familiar to most birdwatchers.

Even though the Gannet is restricted to a couple of dozen breeding colonies, individuals may be seen anywhere around our coast throughout the year. The breeding colonies are noisy, pungent affairs, the birds packed together with each individual just out of beak reach of its neighbours.

After the breeding season, most of our Gannets move to winter in the Bay of Biscay or further south to the coasts of west Africa, with some individuals crossing the Equator.

Gannet, Allan Drewitt

Key Stats

Status
Common
Common
Weight
Weight
3kg
Eggs
Eggs
1
Seasonality
Seasonality
13%
BTO Records
BTO Records
270k records
Publications
Publications
11
Population and distribution stats for:
Population Change
Population Change
No data
Population Size
Population Size
No current data
Distribution Change
Distribution_change
47.1% expansion

Identification

Curated resources to aid in the identification of Gannet

Songs and Calls

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Gannet, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

Call:

Movement

Information about Gannet movements and migration based on online bird portals (e.g. BirdTrack), Ringing schemes and tracking studies.

Britain & Ireland movement

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

Dots show the foreign destinations of birds ringed in Britain & Ireland, and the origins of birds ringed overseas that were subsequently recaptured, resighted or found dead in Britain & Ireland. Dot colours indicate the time of year that the species was present at the location.

  • Winter (Nov-Feb)
  • Spring (Mar-Apr)
  • Summer (May-Jul)
  • Autumn (Aug-Oct)
Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

European movements

EuroBirdPortal uses birdwatcher's records, such as those logged in BirdTrack to map the flows of birds as they arrive and depart Europe. See maps for this species here.

The Eurasian-African Migration Atlas shows movements of individual birds ringed or recovered in Europe. See maps for this species here.

Biology

Lifecycle and body size information for Gannet, including statistics on nesting, eggs and lifespan based on BTO ringing and nest recording data.

Productivity and Nesting

Nesting timing

Typical (exceptional) number of broods
1
Source

Egg measurements

Typical length x width
78x50 mm
Mass (% shell)
106g (11%)
Source

Clutch Size

Typical number
1 eggs
Observed minimum and maximum
1 eggs
Source

Incubation

Incubation by
Male + Female
Typical duration
42-46 days
Source

Fledging

Type of chick
Typical duration
84-97 days
Source

Survival and Longevity

Survival is shown as the proportion of birds surviving from one year to the next and is derived from bird ringing data. It can also be used to estimate how long birds typically live.

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report.

Lifespan

Typical life expectancy of bird reaching breeding age
17 years with breeding typically at 5 years
Source
Maximum age from a ringed bird
37 years, 4 months, 16 days (set in 1998)
Source

Survival of adults

All adults
0.919±0.002
Source

Survival of juveniles

All juveniles
0.3 (to age 4)
Source

Biometrics

Wing length and body weights are from live birds (source).

Ring Size

K

Classification, names and codes

Taxonomy, names and species codes for Gannet

Classification and Codes

  • Order: Suliformes
  • Family: Sulidae
  • Scientific name: Morus bassanus
  • Authority: Linnaeus, 1758
  • BTO 2-letter code: GX
  • BTO 5-letter code: GANNE
  • Euring code number: 710

Alternate species names

  • Catalan: mascarell atlàntic
  • Czech: terej bílý
  • Danish: Sule
  • Dutch: Jan-van-gent
  • Estonian: suula
  • Finnish: suula
  • French: Fou de Bassan
  • Gaelic: Sùlaire
  • German: Basstölpel
  • Hungarian: szula
  • Icelandic: Súla
  • Irish: Gainéad
  • Italian: Sula
  • Latvian: ziemelu sulla
  • Lithuanian: šiaurinis padukelis
  • Norwegian: Havsule
  • Polish: gluptak (zwyczajny)
  • Portuguese: alcatraz
  • Slovak: sula biela
  • Slovenian: strmoglavec
  • Spanish: Alcatraz atlántico
  • Swedish: havssula
  • Welsh: Hugan
  • English folkname(s): Solan Goose

Research

Interpretation and scientific publications about Gannet from BTO scientists.

Causes of Change and Solutions

Causes of change

There are no clear reasons for the substantial increases in Gannet numbers. Like other seabird species, fisheries discards may have played a role in the second half of the twentieth century. Gannets have high survival rates, can fly long distances to forage and are adaptable and these factors may also have helped drive increases (JNCC 2022), which have continued (at least so far) in spite of reductions in fisheries discards which are affecting other species (Bicknell et al. 2013). However, a north American study has found that increasing sea surface temperatures (due to climate change) and over-exploitation by fisheries may be affecting productivity and causing declines at the southernmost colonies in Canada (d'Entremont et al. 2022). Hence, it is possible that similar issues could affect UK colonies in the future.

Publications (11)

The status of the UK’s breeding seabirds

Author: Stanbury, A.J., Burns, F., Aebischer, N.J., Baker, H., Balmer, D., Brown, A.F., Dunn, T., Lindley, P., Murphy, M., Noble, D.G., Owens, R. & Quinn, L.

Published: 2024

Five seabird species are added to the Birds of Conservation Concern Red List in this addendum to the 2021 update, bringing the total number of Red-listed seabird species to 10, up from six since ...

29.09.24

Papers

View on journal website

Seabird Population Trends and Causes of Change: 1986–2023

Author: Harris, S.J., Baker, H., Balmer, D.E., Bolton, M., Burton, N.H.K., Caulfield, E., Clarke, J.A.E., Dunn, T.E., Evans, T.J., Hereward, H.R.F., Humphreys, E.M., Money, S. and O’Hanlon, N.J.

Published: 2024

This report presents the latest seabird population trends in breeding abundance and productivity using data from the Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP).The report documents changes in the abundance ...

21.11.24

Reports SMP Report

Read the report

Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas

Author: Connors, M.G., Sinnon, N.B., Agamboue, P.D., Atkinson, P.W., Bayliss, A., Benson, S.R., Block, B.A., Bograd, S.J., Bordino, B., Bowen, D., Brickle, P., Bruno, I., Carman, V.G., Champagne, C.D., Crocker, D., Costa, D.P., Dawson, T.M., Deguchi, T., Dewar, H., Doherty, P.D., Eguchi, T., Formia, A., Godley, B.J., Graham, R.T., Gredzens, C., Hart, K.M., Hawkes, L.A., Henderson, S. Henry, W., Hückstädt, L.A., Irvine, L., Kienle, S., Kuhn, C.E., Lidgard, D., Loredo, S.A., Mate, B., Metcalfe, K., Nzegoue, J., Oliwina, C.K.K., Orben, R.A., Ozaki, K., Parnell, R., Pike, E.P., Robinson, P.,. Rosenbaum, H., Sato, S., Shaffer, S.A., Shaver, D.J., Simmons, S.E., Sisson, N.B., Smith, B.J., Sounguet, G.P., Suryan, R., Thompson, D.R., Tierney, M., Tilley, D., Young, H.S., Warwick-Evans, V., Weise, M.J., Wells, R.S., Wilkinson, B.P., Witt, M.J. & Maxwell, S.M.

Published: 2022

Marine Protected Areas are designated to protect marine fauna, such as whales, sharks, turtles and seabirds, but are we getting them right? Tracking data provide valuable information on the movements ...

20.07.22

Papers

More Evidence

More evidence from Conservation Evidence.com

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