Petrels eating contraceptives, polythene and plastic beads

As part of a more detailed study on the food and feeding ecology of the Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis , regurgitations from adults and chicks from colonies on the Firths of Fourth and Clyde, Scotland, have been collected and analysed. Preliminary results show Fulmars to be feeding regularly and naturally at night, and scavenging opportunistically from the sea surface by day. Among the more unnatural items recorded are rubber contraceptives from adults and chicks probably picked up by adults in mistake for polychaets (Nereidae) or squids (Cephalapoda), and sheet polythene from what looks like carrier bags.