91热爆

By the 19th century, shooting nesting seabirds for pleasure became a hugely popular pastime. Cheap shotguns created a revolution in the affordability of recreational killing, and ordinary tourists on steamers, or fishermen in their sailing boats, were able to take part in shooting trips to seabird colonies, which they did all over Scotland from the Bass Rock to the Hebrides. Even the Prince of Wales, future Edward VII, participated. He made for the Bass Rock where it was reported 鈥渢he prince enjoyed some shooting and brought down a number of gannets鈥�.

However, the real damage inflicted to the colony was not just done by princes and gentlemen but also by less elevated folk. One writer spoke of 鈥榤ischievous idlers鈥� shooting at them from boats, and another spoke of eggs taken by 鈥榠rresponsible tourists鈥� and of 鈥榖oat loads of strangers who expended a quantity of ammunition in blazing away at the busy swarms engaged with their nests鈥� leaving 鈥渢he sea strewn with dead gannets which the shooters did not take the trouble to gather up鈥�. During the 1800s, 70% of the gannet population on the Bass Rock alone was obliterated by hunting parties.

Fortunately for the gannet, the situation changed as recreational observation completely displaced recreational killing as a way of enjoying the gannets of the Bass. By 1905, the colony had legal protection throughout the breeding season, and though disturbance did not immediately cease, the tourists who came to sail round the island, and sometimes to land, now did so peacefully to admire the birds.