gannets

This is where I have often watched gannets spiral upwards then drop themselves from great heights into the sea where unsuspecting dinner awaits. Their bright whiteness catches the light so they are easy to spot and often do their diving close enough to the shore to be viewed with the naked eye. The poem below is named after the layby in which I spent the afternoon and evening watching them. As the light dimmed, a weird ruffling of the sea caught my eye, so I lifted the binoculars and was rewarded by catching a mass of them congregating at considerable distance. With only a basic phone camera and an old digital Cannon, there was no possibility of saving them for posterity, except in my mind's eye.



Tangy T-Shaped Layby
20/6/19

four gannets passing plus a follower
four more gannets and a straggler
second posse disintegrates, dissolves
another four gannets, no follower

my disparate family, plus Gran
my dishevelled family, each flying their own path
maw, paw, the weans
and Gran

six gannets and a straggler
break into three, two, one and one

two gannets together
one soars, one skims

speedy little brown duck
cuts through the jutting rocks

two more gannets and a follower
catches up to make three

eight gannets in a swirling cloud
party in the rain and wind
above a tempestuous sea
riding the airwaves

nine equidistant gannets
split into fours
one straggler
between them
undecided

lone gannet rises
falls with grace
to the surface
rises again

lone gannet fights for height
swoops like a peregrine
curves off the shallows
fights up again

no diving

twilight, binoculars, hundred
distant silent hullaballoo
youngsters party in the fading light
on a choppy sea
adults encircling