After a gestation period almost as long as that of the book itself, I finally pressed the button to make this website public on March 8th 2022.
I think the intended content of the different pages is self-explanatory. So now the door is open for others to help fill them up- just send me what you have!!
Why Gannet Rock?
Needing to set up a company to handle my book publication and any other commercial ventures I might get involved in over the next few years I was searching for a name.
I have always felt a close affinity to gannets, sparked initially by school trips to their breeding colony on the Bass Rock, in the outer reaches of the Firth of Forth. (In fact their original Latin name Sula bassana reflects this historic location for them).
I will also note, in passing, that one of my teachers used to call me ‘Gannet’ on account of how he felt I ate my lunch!
Gannets were further on my mind at the time of setting this all up after a very enjoyable couple of days watching them at Bempton Cliffs in July last year with Jan.
I have been lucky enough to see two Gannets in and around Maldon.
The first was a young bird first spotted by Russ Neave fishing along the river off Mundon Sluice in October 2012, while the second was a cracking adult that flew over my head whilst I was running along the Prom in very strong winds in February 2014.
Now that the site is morphing more into a dedicated site for Maldon’s wildlife in general, then I guess I could have created a new site name (and may well do so in the future). Hopefully, though, the wonders of Search Engine Optimisation software will mean that a search on ‘Wildlife of Maldon’ will still bring this site up 🙂
And yes, the ‘rock’ in the background of the company logo is a stylisation of Bass Rock itself.
