Les Etacs

Les Etacs, the Garden Rocks, stand just off Alderney's western point and carry a colony of several thousand pairs of northern gannets, birds packed onto every ledge with a constant traffic of arrivals and departures overhead. The colony established itself only in 1940 and has grown since. It is visible clearly from the cliff path at Giffoine, and boats run round it in summer. A second colony sits on Ortac, a stack a few kilometres further out, and the two together hold most of the Channel Islands' gannets.

What you actually see

• The gannet colony - several thousand pairs packed on the stacks.
• The flight traffic - constant arrivals and departures over the rocks.
• The cliff viewpoint - the path at Giffoine looking straight across.
• The recent origin - a colony that only established itself in 1940.

When to go

April to September is the breeding season when the stacks are full. Birds leave through the autumn. Boat trips run only in summer and are cancelled in swell.

Honest expectations

From land the birds are across water and binoculars matter. Boat trips are seasonal and weather-dependent. The smell of the colony carries on the wind.

Nearby

Fort Clonque is south, and St Anne is east.