A BEACH walker was shocked to make an unusual discovery this morning on Walney. 

David Webb, from Jesmond Avenue in Barrow, was walking along Biggar Bank Beach when he was surprised to stumble across hundreds of goose barnacles that had been washed up on a metal buoy. 

He had never seen the strange creatures before and decided to take some pictures. 

He said: "It's a beautiful shell, highly polished and a gloss finish."

Sarah Dalrymple, the South Walney Nature Reserve warden, identified them straight away. 

She said: "They’re being washed up from the deep Atlantic by these storms. 

"An interesting fact is before people worked out that geese migrated to the Arctic to breed, it was thought that they hatched from these barnacles – hence, goose barnacle.

"They’re quite common in British waters but are fixed to rocks or something solid well underwater, so it’s not uncommon for them to wash up after big storms. 

"They’re unusual and unfamiliar-looking enough to be noticed when they do."