This book tells a story in words and photographs of a secret ritual going back six centuries. Once a year, ten chosen men from the Isle of Lewis spend a fortnight on a rock in the Atlantic. They kill 2000 gannets, pluck and salt them, then stack them in altars to await the boat back to Lewis. Here they are met by a throng of islanders eager to receive their annual bird. Although the NCC has set the figure of 2000 birds, this is not a cull. John Beatty is one of the first outsiders in living memory to be allowed on to the island.