Cored limpet shells

 

Walking along the shoreline at Crawfordsburn Country Park I spotted something unusual - Cored limpet shells suspended from tree branches.

I cannot work out how they got there. But I can think of some questions.

Were the innards of the shells scavenged by sea birds and did they get at the flesh by piercing the crests?

But if they did why are the holes so large and even? Large beaked birds needing room to swallow.

Or did the sea sculpt the hole with its abrasive ebb and flow?  Scooping out the weakest part of the shell, where the limpet had no strength to hold?

And were the shells collected by children or beach-combing adults to be suspended from the branches in an act of creativity? They do look pretty.

Maybe it's a coast-liner rag-tree type custom. The hanging of a shell to make a wish or ask for favour.

I'll be on the lookout for cored shells when next there and for a suitable branch on which to hang them.

And make a creative wish.