Country diary: The clock is ticking for these colourful castaways | Claire Stares

Hayling Island, Hampshire: Piles of goose barnacles are stranded on the beach after a long journey hitched on a barrel. They’re fascinating creatures, but they won’t survive longA message pinged on to my phone – a photo from a friend out walking her dog. Her whippet, head cocked and nose quivering, was investigating a strange object that had washed up on the beach. Later, curiosity got the better of me and, though it was raining heavily, I went down to the shore to see for myself.The blue drum lay stranded in a fresh seam of shingle, surrounded by storm-tossed debris – cuttlebones, wrack, and a profusion of single-use plastics. But what immediately drew the eye was the living cargo spilling over its sides – a dense aggregation of common goose barnacles (Lepas anatifera), castaways which, as larvae, cling to whatever floats past them – from driftwood and buoys to ship hulls and turtles. Continue reading...