DOZENS of people are flocking to see a rare and unusual wild creature after storm Henry washed them up on a remote Meirionnydd beach.

Goose barnacles, also called stalked barnacles or gooseneck barnacles, are filter-feeding crustaceans that live attached to hard surfaces of rocks in the ocean and are not normally seen unless people go diving.

They are thought to be a delicacy around the world.

Diners will shell out hundreds of euros for them.

On northern Spain’s Coast of Death local men risk their lives searching the jagged cliffs for them.

Hundreds were attached to a buoy and another set were attached to a glass bottle washed up on a remote mid Wales beach between Aberdyfi and Tywyn.

Sue Price from Gresford near Wrexham said that she was amazed when she saw them while walking with her family.

They were rarely seen in such numbers, she said.

“I was amazed that there were so many of them.

“I have seen them once before in Scotland attached to a huge coil of rope so I knew what they were straight away.

“The one attached to the bottle stood out first and then I just kept seeing more and more as I walked the dogs along the beach.

“The dogs would go and sniff them and they would move which frightened the dogs, then they backed off.

“The first time I saw them in Scotland some years ago I did some research, they are rarely seen out of the oceans and I read they are a delicacy around the world.

“It’s nice to see something unusual like this.”