These two beautiful gannets patrolling the waters off Little Skellig easily lived up to their reputation of Ireland’s most majestic seabird.

For a a few moments they flew in to hold perfect formation alongside our ungainly craft. With wings beating in unison and the and effortlessly glide they showed us up a thousand times over.

The gannet colony on Little Skellig has nearly 30,000 breading pairs making it the largest in all of Ireland. I wonder if any like Star Wars?

Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Skellig Patrol’, 2s f/18 ISO320 14mm