For the love of Fulmars
By Piper
February 2025
A note on fulmars
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Occasionally, in one’s university career, an assignment will come along that will lead you to spend a week straight in the library. These always prove to be interesting (read: hellish). As an ecologist, I always find it difficult to work indoors for long periods, especially when most of the work concerns the natural world! I’ve always formed a connection to the nature around me, wherever I happen to be and whatever I happen to be doing. Losing that connection, for however long, can be incredibly discouraging. I am found in the library now, watching the sky slowly darken as I draft this very blog.
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Thank God for St Andrews. One of the things that keeps me going through a tricky assignment is the ability to step outside for a few minutes. I will often find myself walking down to the Scores to birdwatch. Whenever I’m down there, I look out for my favourite of all St Andrews birds: the members of our local fulmar colony. I just can’t help but love those birds. Their graceful movements, forever swooping between the cliffs and the water. Their almost masterful command of the wind, born from a morphology designed to spend weeks at sea without pause. All this happening mere metres from my feet, close enough to look each individual bird in the eye.
Safe to say, the St Andrews fulmars hold quite a special place in my heart.
What is a fulmar, anyway?
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Fulmars are seabirds, formally known as the Northern fulmar (or Fulmarus glacialis). They are part of the family known as the Procellariiformes, which consists of several other seabirds - including albatrosses! Most species in this group spend the majority of their lives at sea, only coming ashore to breed. Northern fulmars can be found residentially off the coasts of Great Britain, as well as the seas of Northern Europe, Asia, and America. Interestingly, fulmars have only taken up residence in mainland Britain in the last 250 years, having previously been restricted to the most remote of the Outer Hebrides. Nobody is quite sure what caused them to move inwards.
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In many ways, a fulmar does superficially resemble a gull, but it isn’t one! I must admit, they are roughly equal sizes, can be found in the same place, and are even very similar colours. It's not difficult to confuse the two. However, there are some foolproof ways to tell these birds apart. Perhaps the easiest is by their movement in flight- while gulls fly with a bent wing, fulmars always fly with perfectly straight, stiff, wings! As a friend once put it: gulls look like their movement is coming from the elbow, while fulmars look like it is coming from the shoulder. Fulmars also appear stouter than gulls and have a darker grey colouration along their back. Upon closer inspection, fulmars also have a tube-like structure along the top side of their beak. This helps them to remove salt from their system and is found in many species of seabird. I personally find these birds fascinating!
Here in St Andrews, we are very lucky to have these birds around! We are well suited to hold a small but solid population, as fulmars like to nest along our cliffs, with easy access to the surrounding waters. They also mesh well with the local fishing industry. Fulmars will often scavenge the remains of fish left by trawlers, as well as crustaceans and other animal leftovers. In fact, the rise of our fishing industry may be why fulmars began to move to mainland Britain all those years ago. Today, we have approximately 200 breeding pairs found on the cliffs between the aquarium and the pier. Fulmars can be found in St Andrews nearly year-round, leaving only between early autumn and November. Even now from my position on the 3rd floor of the library, I can see the occasional bird silhouetted against the water. Truly, one of our most iconic birds!
Fulmars and public engagement with nature
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Regular engagement with nature can be pivotal for conservation, and beneficial for those who do so. Many a study has been conducted on the the natural world’s benefits on people, and it has been repeatedly proven that time outside can improve sleep and general health, as well as reducing feelings of stress and anxiety. Engagement is also a powerful tool in conservation. After all, for conservation to occur we must regard and care about a species, which involves getting to know it!
While fulmars are doing well (currently enjoying a Least Concern status), seabirds as a whole are struggling. Following the bird flu epidemic of 2021, many seabird populations have been in decline, with tens of thousands of birds affected. In terms of public engagement, seabirds can also be notoriously unavailable, with most species passing months at sea, and then spending their breeding season on cliffs in remote locations. Our fulmars are quite the exception to this rule. They are a particularly accessible population, found remarkably close to the centre of town. The stretch of coast they inhabit features a hard-surfaced path, aiding those who are disabled and children who may otherwise tire on a long walk. Getting kids into nature as early as possible has always been an important page in my book, and nothing is cooler than seabirds to me.
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Due to a quirk of the St Andrews cliff structure, we are particularly lucky to have fulmars nesting very close to the pathway. As I stand here, I can see them in all their glorious detail, from their tube noses to the small smudge of black around their eyes, making them appear just a little extra cute. Last year I was particularly happy to find a pair of birds nesting practically on top of the entrance to Castle Sands, almost within touching distance. But! You should never get too close to nesting birds. Disturbances can affect the health of both parents and chick, with too much disturbance leading to total abandonment. Besides, fulmars are known for spitting foul-smelling oil at any invaders of their nest. Something notoriously difficult to get out of your clothes!
​Perhaps a controversial opinion, but I truly believe that their resemblance to gulls is yet another point in our fulmars' favour! Learning to distinguish fulmars from their chip-stealing counterparts can be a wonderful gateway into the world of bird identification and education. Many of my less bird-savvy friends I have introduced to bird ID through this method. I think fulmars may even help repair the reputation that our gulls are unjustly given. A little education can go a long way!
Public engagement and the BioLit VIP
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Here in the St Andrews Biodiversity Literacy VIP, education and engagement are what we are all about! Our primary objective as a Vertically Integrated Project is to create positive change on university-owned lands, and to promote biodiversity and sustainable land management practises, both in policy and attitudes. As a core part of this, we stand for students and staff alike to engage with nature, including species that can already be found in and around the town. This is where our beautiful fulmars come in, readily available throughout the year. As a truly iconic species of the town, these birds can provide a unique opportunity for us to educate the public about seabirds and the challenges they are currently facing.
Our world at present is facing a biodiversity crisis, with a 73% reduction in the average size of monitored wildlife populations since 1970. The UK bird population is facing habitat destruction by agricultural intensification, and bird flu has thoroughly ravaged our seabird populations. But here, on our small section of the Fife coast, we can hold onto something really quite special. At just a 5-minute walk away from some of our busiest buildings, our fulmars can provide both a welcome break from studying, and a ray of hope in troubled times. Combined with the educational opportunities that the Biodiversity Literacy VIP brings, I hope that these birds can help bring about the motivation to make real positive change for biodiversity at the University of St Andrews.
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And now I find myself here, finishing up this very blog post from Castle Sands, watching the sun go down as the birds I hold so dear fly above me. I think, despite those week-long library stints, I love my degree.