This is rich hunting ground indeed for the botanist. You do not need to be an ornithologist or an experienced birdwatcher to appreciate the bird life in this area. In spring and autumn, the headlands offer an ideal vantage point from which to observe seabird migration. With patience and a keen eye you may be fortunate enough to see huge numbers of seabirds in passage between the Mediterranean and north-western Europe flying northwards towards their breeding grounds in January, February and March, southward to their winter haunts in September, October and November. The most easily recognisable and the most spectacular to watch in passage is the gannet.
Gannets are large, oceanic birds with snowy white plumage and extensive black wingtips.
Immature birds are dusky brown all over in their first year, mottled pied in their second and third years. Their flight is quite different from gulls, which in any case are smaller. When looking for food, gannets wheel in the air or beat upwind on stiff wings with their beaks pointing down. On spotting a fish, they go into a slanting or vertical dive with their wings angled back. On their way down, they adjust their position minutely by moving their wingtips, rotating their bodies slightly, using their tails as a rudder and their feet as flaps.