Dear reader,
Dear reader, what can we say, it has been a while since we posted an update. As it happens, this is summer has been dreadful, cold, wet and windy, and apparently it has been the worst summer in Scotland in over twenty years but time and tide waits for no man.
So let’s get on with a brief review of what has been happening.
Spring ramp up
As with last year the spring found us busy, very busy indeed. At this point the Glenmorangie DEEP project and the #RestortationForth project came back online and between Easter and early summer we fed these projects over 30,000 Native European Flat oysters (Ostrea edulis) for relaying.
European Native Oyster Restoration is a European wide effort to try and save the oyster (Ostrea edulis) and by doing so, reap all the environmental benefits that come as a result.
Oysters are a key ecosystem builder and can play a crucial role in helping to recover environments that have sadly been destroyed or degraded by human activity. We have a page that provides some background here.
We are extremely proud to be involved in this sort of environmental restoration work and it is now the focus of our efforts on a day to day basis.
Rainy damp summer
This is summer has been dreadful, cold, wet and windy, and apparently it has been the worst summer in Scotland in over twenty years. We do not get the best of weather as a rule but this year has been particularly bad, with constant low pressure fronts rolling in from the Atlantic all summer.
The following image was one of those rare days days of calm but even then it was still cloudy, and in the Highlands of Scotland summertime plus calm and cloudy equals midges.....
On a practical note this has slowed down our efforts somewhat. The summer is usually a time where we perform lots of maintenance activities but this has been curtailed somewhat by the unseasonable weather. The key is to prioritise the key work items and plan to the fit the other items into the back end work schedule. I think many entrepreneurs would agree that in business you have to be nimble and flexible as there are always balls to be juggled.
Across the summer we have also been introducing new batches of European Flat oyster seed although for various reason supply has been constrained this year and so volumes are lower than we would like.
For those who are unaware oyster farming in most of Europe is dependant upon hatchery produced seed. That is we, as farmers, rely upon hatcheries to spawn adult brood stock animals and transfer the new ‘seed’ animals produced at a small size (think little finger nail size) for on growing. This can be a difficult process, and it is not uncommon for there to be issues and problems that disrupt output volumes, as had happened this year.
However, those that we have on the farm are doing well despite the poor weather conditions. Hopefully by next year these animals shall all be on their way and helping to build reefs.
Other news
In other news we are a finalist in the VIBES 2024 business awards in the Nature Rich Scotland category.
We hosted the judges on site and discussed our various efforts within the oyster restoration sphere as well as touring the farm. Typically for this year the weather was horrendous on the day of the visit and so the judges definitely got the full experience.
Wish us luck!