Mallimacks

We’re aboard the Ailsa Jane and I’m taking advantage of the creel boat having a very low side where the creels get dropped into the ocean. It means I can lie down and get eye-level with a fabulous array of life.

There’s a Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, nearby hoping for some scraps. They’re related to Albatrosses rather than gulls, despite the countershaded plumage.

Their Orcadian name is Mallimack, or badmouth, because of their highly accurate spitting of rancid oil at any attackers.

It’s a thrill to get close to them on water without them feeling threatened, as they would on land.

Things are so relaxed that there’s even time for them to have a brief chat on the waves.

I wonder what they’re saying to one another?