Unusual Find on Belfast Lough...?

[Drongo]

Anyone want to have a guess at what this is...?

Found just up the coast from white head towards Browns Bay...

The largest lump would have been about 500mm sq or so...

It was greasy, smelt greasy, floated had small bits of what looked like animal hair in it and when you broke it up, it was bright yellow had a grainy texture to it...

As you can see from the last photo, my dog went mad for it, eating a whole chunk before I could stop him...

Actually I'd better go see if he is ok, cause it he'd wild bad gas all last night and has been pretty quiet this morning...

Suggestions on a postcard to the usual address please...

 

[Shewie]

Is it some kind of commercial fishing product ? Looks pretty nasty though mate, I hope your dog`s okay.

 

[sapper1]

go back and get it ,all of it .It's ambergris and worth a fortune.
It's formed in the stomach of whales and used to intensify the aroma of perfumes.

 

[Drongo]

Just been out to check, dog is fine...

Though he has left me a luminous yellow lump of runny poo to clean...

Nice...

 

[calibanzwei]

Quids in there Drongo!

 

[Drongo]

go back and get it ,all of it .It's ambergris and worth a fortune.
It's formed in the stomach of whales and used to intensify the aroma of perfumes.

See...

I thought that too, but all the research I've done online contradicts that theory...

In my opinion it's too soft to be ambergris...?

I've emailed a marine biologist and the ambergris society to ask them also...

Watch this space...

 

[Shewie]

Does it take a spark ?

 

[durulz]

I thought it was ambergris as well.
If I was you I'd go back and get it all - just in case. Do it quick before someone else gets it.
It will sell for shed loads. You may even be able to afford a Woodlore knife...

 

[sapper1]

Ambergris starts of soft and then hardens and darkens over time.

 

[durulz]

Ambergris starts of soft and then hardens and darkens over time.

So, not only is it whale chuck, it's RECENT whale chuck!

 

[JohnC]

If it is ambergris, how do you go about selling something like that?
BTW what did it smell of?

 

[Drongo]

Still not convinced though...

My thoughts are it's a by-product from the animal feeds place that used to be at the head of the lough...

 

[Drongo]

If it is ambergris, how do you go about selling something like that?
BTW what did it smell of?

No idea...

There is a place in Dubai that buys it, but how do you get it over there in the first place...

It smelt what I'd imagine a chip shop bin would smell like....

 

[Shewie]

That top picture looks as though it has a flat face nearest to us, as though it`s been sat in something when it set ??

 

[ScarletPimpernel]

It's clearly a lump of yellowman left over from the Lammas Fair. Scrape the gunk off the outside and sell it at Nutt's Corner next Sunday.

More seriously, it looks like some sort of foam product, perhaps used in some marine application - a float or something like that.

 

[Drongo]

It's not foam...

Man made, yes I think so, but made from natural/animal materials...

It's definitely not synthetic...

 

[Tengu]

Its bait for catching dogs.

or possibly ambergis.