The gannet in this picture is nesting on Ailsa Craig in Ayrshire, Scotland. This is Richard Kearton's recollection of the circumstances in which it was taken: 'Towards evening I found myself at work on a narrow ledge of rock not one whit wider than the seat of a chair, with some five hundred feet of thin air betwixt me and the sea below...Noticing that the rays of the sinking sun coming aslant through a slight haze made a beautiful play of soft light and shade upon the pure white plumage of my subjects, I fired off my last plate'.