Goose Barnacles

Out on the shore this afternoon I spotted a couple of marker buoys wedged in the rocks. Strung between them was a rope, covered in these goose barnacles. Unfortunately most of them are dead, but the ones underneath, in the water, were still alive. They are amazing creatures, crustaceans which mostly live in deep water.

Here's what Wiki has to say about them:
In the days before it was realised that birds migrate, it was thought that Barnacle Geese, Branta leucopsis, developed from this crustacean, since they were never seen to nest in temperate Europe, hence the English names "goose barnacle", "barnacle goose" and the scientific name Lepas anserifera (Latin anser = "goose").
There is also some interesting info here

You never know what what you are going to find on the beach . . .