Once, it was thought that the migrating geese that arrived in the UK from the distant oceans, metamorphosing from strange creatures called goose barnacles. People actually believed that ! Goose barnacles are crustaceans that anchor themselves via a tube to floating debris. They live in colonies and float about for years on the open seas.The common goose barnacle (Lepas anatifera) can be found washed up on beaches after strong winds. Here are a few I found at Hengestbury head, Bournemouth.
sometimes the tubes can be bright blue in colour, but usually a dark black brown like liquorice.
whilst on the heath at Arne, I came across an old duck egg that had been predated on by an animal, possibly corvids, as these are the usual culprits but also foxes, martins and polecats ,hedgehogs and badgers eat them. The upturned shell was a tiny world within. It lay under a rotting birch and there are droppings of a moth larvae at the bottom that have fallen from the tree , a coiled slug dropping, mosquito larvae and three springtails on the surface water. springtails are an ancient group of insect like creatures and possess a spring that enables them to leap great distances like fleas. They are called collembola and there are about three hundred or so species within the UK. The species here resembles Dicyrtomina sp. They are very interesting creatures and vary immensely . Many species live on the surface of water or in soil especially if damp.