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)

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)

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)

I wonder what they’re saying to one another?

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