One of the more bizarre outcomes stemming from the winter hurricane Ophelia, that hit Irish shores late last year, is the beaching of lumps of amber on the Irish coastline.
Some youngsters in Dublin have found a substantial lump on the beach in Killiney, near Dublin. The amber has a very distinctive smell like resin or soap, has air bubbles inside and is very light, feels like plastic and does not dissolve in water.
Readers will remember that the oldest fungi ever found was one that had been ‘frozen’ in amber some 550 million years ago. It would be quite the find to discover such a thing on an Irish beach.
Or even a lump with mosquito stuck in it. like the piece of amber in the Jurassic Park movies, one might just hit it lucky at a beach near you.
