Incredible as it may seem now, in medieval times before we understood about
bird migration, barnacle geese were believed to spawn from goose barnacles and in fact this is how the birds got their name.
With perfect timing, today we saw not
only flocks of newly arrived barnacle geese flying past Eoligarry jetty, but also found some
goose barnacles washed up on a nearby beach. Surely this is all the evidence we need that the old myth is true?
Sadly, the geese had not just emerged from the crustaceans, but the reality is even more amazing, they had just
arrived in off the sea from their breeding grounds in Greenland. They annually pass over Barra on their way to their wintering grounds on Islay and elsewhere in Scotland.
Meanwhile, the goose barnacles belong in tropical / sub-tropical waters, where they attach themselves
to any floating items in the ocean, which in the case of those we found today
means human litter. The goose barnacles are unable to reproduce in the colder
waters around Britain, so the floating litter must have originated many hundreds of miles away
and over the course of many years floated to Barra, carried by storms and
ocean currents, bringing the goose barnacles with them.
Barnacle geese flying through the Sound of Fuideigh, viewed from Eoligarry
jetty.
Common goose barnacles.
These look like goose barnacles but appear to be a different species. They're
attached to a roll of sellotape, or something that looks like sellotape! My best guess is that they are called small goose barnacle Lepas pectinata but I'm still waiting for confirmation of this.
Traigh Eais
Newly arrived whooper swans on Vattersay.
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