The mystery of the Sailor's Whistle...

Some of you may remember that I spoke about the "Sailor's Whistle" on the Autumnwatch film I presented in in 2010. The "whistle" is made from the bladder of a wrack - egg wrack ideally as they are larger - the bladder wrack produces a totally serviceable whistle but more of a fiddle...

First of all a little marine biology - why do seaweeds have bladders? Well, seaweeds need sunlight to photosynthesise. When the tide is in and the intertidal rocky area turns into a marine forest of swaying seaweed "branches", some seaweeds have evolved to maximise the potential sunlight harvested by making sure it is held high up in the water with these little "bubbles". The gas filled bladders act as a floatation device like a child's armbands!

But, in true human fashion, we found good purpose of these bladders - to make whistles. I had heard that Egg Wrack also had the name, "Sailor's Whistle". So, I diligently collected bladders and tried a variety of holes in a variety of patterns and positions...to no avail. But a lovely lady responded with an email to tell me her Grandfather used to make them!

So the answer is incredibly simple - make one hole in the bladder and blow across it like a flute & voila we have a "Sailor's Whistle". Perhaps there are other versions of "whistle" but I like the simplicity of this version! When I run rockpool sessions & find detached weed, I can now nibble a little hole and produce a little "tweet"...