Residents said they’d ‘never seen anything like it’.<\/p>\n
10:48, 08 Jan 2026Updated 14:49, 08 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
Edinburgh locals<\/a> have been left bewildered after discovering thousands of starfish washed up at a beauty spot in the city. Wild swimmers were at Wardie Bay in Granton<\/a> on Thursday morning when they came across the animals.<\/p>\n Hannah Foster, who was among the group, said it is ‘not a normal sight’. Images from the beach show piles of seaweed with the creatures laying among it.<\/p>\n According to a lead professor at the Scottish Oceans Institute, the outlook isn’t great for the starfish – though there is an explanation for the strange occurrence. Hannah told us: “At around 8am this morning on Wardie Bay, local swimmers<\/a> came across thousands of washed-up starfish.<\/p>\n “The swell has been small for days, and Storm Goretti has not yet hit our shores, which prompted the question of why so many starfish have been washed up at this time. A local who’s lived near the bay for the last five years, this has only happened once before – it is not a normal sight.”<\/p>\n Earlier this year, similar scenes were discovered on Kirkcaldy beach in Fife. Helen Clark, 86, who has lived in Kirkcaldy for about 50 years, said at the time: “I\u2019ve never seen anything like it.<\/p>\n “But I did see the strong winds yesterday, because all this sand was blowing up, so that could be a reason for it.”<\/p>\n Professor David Ferrier, from the Scottish Oceans Institute at the University of St Andrews, said heavy seas are a \u201clikely explanation\u201d for the stranding.<\/p>\n He added: “If these heavy seas and strong currents caught an area of the seabed with lots of these starfish, then they will simply have been caught up in the waves and washed ashore.<\/p>\n “This is most likely an unfortunate \u2013 for the starfish \u2013 natural event. Nothing to be worried about.”<\/p>\n He added that starfish can survive out of water for a short period of time, but ‘only really for a matter of minutes if they are completely high-and-dry’. He went on: “If they are still alive when found, then it is worth putting them back in the sea and they may well recover and be fine.<\/p>\n “It is easy to see if a starfish is alive or not, as the hundreds of tube feet with suckers on the animal\u2019s underside will be slowly moving around trying to gain a purchase on something.”<\/p>\n