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.
![Fulmar - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Fulmar-The-Hall-of-Einar-3-725x408.jpg)
Their Orcadian name is Mallimack, or badmouth, because of their highly accurate spitting of rancid oil at any attackers.
![Fulmar - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Fulmars-The-Hall-of-Einar-4-725x483.jpg)
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.
![Fulmar - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Fulmars-The-Hall-of-Einar-1172-725x483.jpg)
I wonder what they’re saying to one another?