Helgoland Hochseeinsel
Breeding site for Northern gannets
The 520-acre island consists of a level, cliff-girded, red sandstone plateau, called the Oberland (56 metres at its highest point), a smaller, low sandy tract in the southeast, the Unterland, and a low sandy island to the east, called Düne. Indeed, geological and historical evidence suggest that Helgoland and Düne are the last remnants of a single island. By 1649 continuous wave attack on the cliffs and a rise in sea level have reduced the island’s periphery. Under the Nazi regime it was a naval stronghold and sustained severe allied bombing toward the end of World War II. With the defeat of Germany, the population was evacuated and the British occupation authorities changed the physical character of much of the island when they destroyed the remaining fortifications by deep blasting. Nowadays the island is used in navigation, as a site for wind-energy production, and in scientific research, especially the study of seabirds.
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
The high cliffs of Helgoland are each year from around april till august home to breeding Northern gannets, kittiwakes and guillemots. The Northern gannets spend the rest of the year at sea. During the breeding season these cliffs are the perfect location to make portraitshots and flightshots of these beautiful seabirds.
