Loch Ryan Oysters

David and Tristan Hugh-Jones have been well-known names on the oyster scene in London for as long as I can remember. They took control of the largest natural native oyster beds in the country up on Loch Ryan in Stranraer, Scotland, in 1996, which have been fished since they were given to The Wallace family by King William 111 in 1701. The natives (illustrated) are dredged from September to April and are often among the first to appear on London restaurant menus.

I spent a few hours on the oyster dredger with Tristan and the crew on a rainy autumn Sunday. Although these may well be the largest purely native beds in the UK, the yield of sellable oysters was remarkably small by the time they had been dredged and hand graded on board by the crew and Tristan. The other 90 per cent or so get loaded into baskets to be re-layed in different parts of the loch to grow and naturally re-spawn. Some of these oysters will take up to 3 to 5 years to reach market size and in the meantime provide good surfaces for new spat to settle on. Many oyster farms around the country will buy in oyster seed and juvenile oysters to grow, but on Loch Ryan they just do their own thing. We sunk a few fine fresh-out-of-the-water natives for lunch on the boat, washed down with, ironically, a bottle of well chosen Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc. It was all that was needed to go with the oysters - no Tabasco, lemon or shallot vinegar. To my mind, natives should be eaten for what they are.