The Gannet Lady Transcript

A video by Hugh Trevor

0:03 [Music]

0:14 “There we go, it’s not so bad now is it?

0:18 There we are.

0:21 Now obviously my love of the birds

0:25 really

0:25 stemmed from my father.

0:28 I don’t know really when dad started

0:31 looking after gannets but certainly

0:34 we came into this house I think the late

0:37 60s so maybe say 67 and and I always

0:41 just remember a pen in the garden, so as

0:44 to exactly when dad started I wouldn’t

0:46 know, but his love of the gannets is

0:49 obviously you know rubbed off onto me.

0:53 My name is Pat Marr, obviously one of the

0:56 Marrs

0:57 I’m connected with a fairly well-known

1:00 family I would say in the town.

1:02 In fact going back, eleven generations of

1:05 Marrs have worked out of the harbour here

1:08 at North Berwick as fishermen and then

1:10 Dad got Sula One in 1970.

1:15 And we had that boat for a couple of

1:17 seasons taking trips people out round

1:19 the Bass Rock.

1:21 So he would be doing a commentary around

1:24 the rock,

1:25 taking people to this most magical of

1:29 rocks. The jewel in the crown here in

1:32 the North Berwick area.

1:34 Dad started rescuing gannets, orphaned

1:38 birds and brought them back and put them

1:41 in a pen in the garden.

1:43 So this has become a bit of a tourist

1:46 attraction to be quite honest. People,

1:48 when they make their way down

1:50 to North Berwick for the day they check

1:52 over our garden wall

1:54 and see if there’s any birds in it”.

1:57 In summer the Bass Rock is home to a

2:01 hundred and fifty thousand gannets.

2:03 Most of these raise their young very

2:06 successfully but always there are a

2:09 number of gannet chicks which are orphaned

2:12 like this one and unless they are

2:15 rescued they will die.

2:18 Here it is with Pat on board the boat

2:23 then this is another being rescued by

2:27 Pat’s son Richard and both chicks are

2:30 taken back to North Berwick and to the

2:32 pen in Pat’s garden to be taken care of

2:35 until they can be released later.

2:41 “You’re a wee hungry Horace aren’t you? he is literally hungry, oh stretch

2:45 these wings off, stretch these wings off

2:47 right

2:53 I know.

2:58 Look at that beak open already for you

3:01 down it goes and give it a push, push it

3:04 down push it a little bit more.

3:08 You can wipe your fingers now in the

3:10 grass. You go into this little

3:13 compartment yeah, if you watch, if I put

3:15 this one in, this one will reach over and

3:17 try and peck it.

3:20 Now there’s a pecking order even at this

3:23 young age. You’ve got the far away one

3:25 which I think is male asserting its

3:28 authority over this one it’s probably

3:29 female that’s why I’ve got that bit of

3:32 wood in the middle there to separate

3:33 them, even at this young age. You see this

3:36 whoops it is it come on boys, boys and

3:40 girls today.

3:42 Goodness me.

3:45 Here these are the two birds I’ve had

3:47 since the 26th of July so this has been

3:50 quite a long haul with these two birds

3:52 probably the longest I’ve had any birds

3:54 so it’s been a case of uh literally

3:58 having to to fillet the fish, cut it up

4:00 into small bits,

4:02 put over their throats. I was boxing them

4:05 up keeping in mind they're just like a

4:06 white ball of fluff if they got rained

4:09 on overnight

4:10 they could become hypothermic and die so

4:13 I think they’re ready for the offski

4:14 so let's just get them in a bag now.

4:16 They’re actually verging on the tame

4:18 which is not really what I want, but the

4:21 they don’t really peck me because they’re

4:24 kind of used to –

4:26 oh darling, you don’t want to go in this

4:27 bag do you? I don’t blame you, but it’s the

4:29 only way apart from actually

4:32 you know, I can get them down to the

4:35 harbour and then we’ll do this all right,

4:38 darling

4:40 all right.

4:44 We’re gonna have an escapee.

4:46 [Applause]

4:49 Once I get the zip over we’ll be fine.

4:54 [Applause]

5:00 We’ll get the other one.

5:03 There’s one in the bag.

5:07 Time to go to into the

5:09 big bad world. I’ll carry this one down

5:12 here and I’m going to get you to carry

5:14 the other one if that’s all right.

5:16 It’s quite an emotional time this, for me, it really

5:19 is,k my babies.

5:24 This one was not wanting to go in a bag at all.

5:31 Just saying that one there Jane, the one

5:34 with a lighter coloured head, that was

5:37 picked up off Seacliff Beach I think

5:40 about four weeks ago now. We’ve had a

5:42 north easterly just driven it ashore but it had a sore leg.

5:47 So that one’s been on antibiotics!

5:52 They're on antibiotics!

6:18 [Music]

6:21 You owe me because you’re the one,

6:22 you’ve got to get airborne quickly.

6:28 Quickly and start fishing okay? Right.

6:35 It must be such a funny feeling, so cold.

6:42 Right airborne quickly and

6:45 start fishing for yourself”.

6:48 Again, it’s a release, like this they are

6:51 too heavy to fly.

6:52 It usually takes two to three days to

6:56 lose some weight and gain enough

6:57 strength in their wings.

7:00 Once they can fly they can catch fish to

7:03 feed themselves.

7:09 “Okay then” Late in the season like this

7:13 when the other gannets have already left

7:15 the Bass Rock these will have to fly

7:18 south, perhaps to France or to the

7:21 Mediterranean and find the other gannets.

7:32 “That’s them out in the big bad world now

7:34 they’re on their own

7:35 quicker to get up into the sky start

7:37 fishing for themselves, better their chance

7:40 of survival. If they don’t they’re just going

7:42 to starve to death on the sea so it’s in

7:45 the lap of the Gods.

7:47 “Good luck!” And you’re very sad. “Of course.

7:50 I am it’s emotional this is probably the

7:52 longest I’ve had any birds. As I say I’ve

7:55 had them since about the 26th of July so

7:57 it’s a long time but the wild animals

8:00 will need to get out there.

8:02 Good luck to them”.

8:05 Is all Pat’s work worth it? That’s a

8:09 debatable question. If she had done

8:12 nothing the birds would all have died

8:14 long ago.

8:16 Let Pat’s words spoken on one of her

8:18 visits to the Bass be the last word on

8:22 this. “And then we bring them back

8:24 out when they’re ready to go and release

8:26 them, so at least we’ve given them a

8:27 chance, okay?”

8:37 [Music]