Posted: Mon Jun 13, 05 11:43 pm Post subject: Lewis... What is there to forage up there?
I'll be up there shortly... We'll be leaving the allotment in the hands of one mate, the garden in the hands of another, and the house in the hands of our Sardinian housemate, and heading up to Scotland; the furthest up we're going to be is on Lewis. I gather that the weather up there has been 'unpredictable'.
I've had some good finds nearer the middle of Scotland before; around Glasgow there's some great foraging. But what should I be looking for on Lewis?
Jonnyboy
Joined: 29 Oct 2004 Posts: 23956 Location: under some rain.
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 05 11:51 pm Post subject:
Crystal clear seawater for one, you should be able to pick and eat your fill of shellfish.
Crystal clear seawater for one, you should be able to pick and eat your fill of shellfish.
Great! Only problem is that I'm there with three shellfish haters
Oh, well, I'll manage a few snacks of my own I suppose.
if you do decide to eat some shellfish while you're there be sure to find out from the fisherman or from a local fishery what shellfish are safe to eat at the time
when we were on skye we always checked first because they had a lot of fish farms and thus algal blooms and thus shellfish with nasty poisonous ick in them... i suspect lewis will be much the same
saying that on the occassions where we found a loch that was safe at the time we had lovely mussels and winkles. you can also find razorfish (tasty and different) and scallops if you're lucky and the tide is quite far out (though you'll still have to brave getting wet up to your waist (and your head when you go under to get them!)
Alchemist
Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 123 Location: Aberdeenshire
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 05 3:58 pm Post subject:
Scallops are fantastic apparently. I don't like them, but on a dive trip a few years ago we got some off Harris and everybody else loved them.
We were based on North Uist (Lochmaddy), and there's not a heck of a lot growing up there. Don't remember any trees or anything tall (even the folk! ). I suspect seaweeds might be your best bet. Just make sure you're not near a fish-farm.
Lots of peat on the Uists, so if Lewis/Harris is similar, anything you find on peat-bogs might be worth keeping an eye out for if not endangered/protected.