( Overview
/ TwoBullocks on a Boat Go Local
United Kingdom, Mersea Coast Road
United Kingdom, 07. July 2024
And so the unsettled weather continues. Brisk winds, and twenty minute spells of sunshine. Deciding to stay another night on our mooring buoy, we took the launch into town to pay our dues and have a Guinness!
Mark and Maggie agreed to join us for lunch at Dawn at Seafood (the old Oyster Shed, and recommended by Paul and Bea), so were very surprised to be taken straight to the hammerhead pontoon to board a front loading workboat / plastic landing craft.
Of course, it started to rain…
…so not the planned pleasant trip around the boats…
…to the old oyster packing shed, built in 1890 on Packing Marsh island. It was used to process oysters before they were taken to London by Thames Barge. After WWI, and the loss of so many young men, the packing was moved to the mainland, and the oysters taken by train.
Not just a local landmark, but also a navigational mark for seamen, it is now maintained by volunteers, who run occasional open days and hire out the shed for events. It was renovated in the 1990s with money raised by local sailors, and work carried out by Royal Engineers from Colchester Barracks.
It’s only full time residents are herring gulls.
Alan gave a very informative - and very quiet - talk about the history of oyster fishing in the area.
The remains of the seawater filtration tanks; oysters are bottom feeders, so were put in clean, tidal water for 24 hours to filter out bacteria and pollution.
During WWI, American ships moored nearby to provide rifles to local barracks; when ready to depart, they found their hulls covered in slipper limpets, so cleaned them by keel hauling, thus covering the oyster beds with shells which were dredged and put on Packing Marsh Island.
Post WWII a virus affected, and almost destroyed, the population of Native oysters. During the freezing winter of 1962/63, when the sea froze enough to walk from Mersea to Brightlingsea and Tollesbury, the cold killed much of the remaining oysters, but also the virus.
The Ministry for Fisheries and Agriculture became involved and suggested introducing Rock Oysters, which can co-exist with Native oysters, and also be eaten all year round. Native oysters can only be eaten in months with an R in them, as they spat (breed) in the summer months.
The seagull chicks are very cute when this size, and are happy nesting on the slipper limpet shells.
Avalon on her mooring buoy during a brief spell of sunshine.
The sun shone for a short while as we left the island.
Our fellow passenger on the return trip.
The wind vane on the packing shed. Maggie and Mark finally got their promised lunch; a lovely time whilst thunder and lighting and yet more rain raged outside.
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