Tangled gannet image commended in Bird Photographer of the Year awards

Rebecca Nason’s ‘Noose of Noss’ photo.

Rebecca Nason’s ‘Noose of Noss’ photo.

A STRIKING black and white photo of a dead gannet tangled in rope or line on the cliffs of Noss has been commended in an international competition.

Rebecca Nason’s image, which was taken last year, was commended in the black and white category of this year’s Bird Photographer of the Year awards.

She said running Shetland Seabird Tours – The Noss Boat reveals the “sheer quantity of fishing waste materials” that gannets collect from the sea and take to line their nests.

Nason said she was pleased that a strong environmental image was recognised in the competition “to help highlight the plight of our seabirds and the terrible consequences to marine life of large scale discarded fishing industry materials”.

She added that the colony is at Noss is “littered with the bright green and blues hues of ropes intertwined with natural seaweed and debris, and is a constantly present potential death trap for these long-lived, already vulnerable seabirds”.

“This image is a stark reminder of the consequences of littering our seas, and is titled ‘The Noose of Noss’,” Nason explained.

“It was take in early May 2024 at the start of the seabird season. A lone dead gannet, hung by its neck by rope, like a horrific murder scene, swaying in the breeze over a dark sea cave.

“It was a scene thousands of our passengers witnessed that season, a shocking scene and poignant reminder of our continuing abuse of our seas and the marine life that depends of them.”