Seawater for the Walney Island nursery is taken from Morecambe Bay and with careful management of over 40 acres of ponds we encourage phytoplankton otherwise known as marine algae to bloom.
The nutrient rich ponds are fairly shallow and warm with run-off from surrounding sand-hills and a resident herring-gull colony, the algae blooms are very special and help make this a unique site.
We operate a 2 pond system for the main nursery so one can be left to bloom as the other is being used to feed the oyster seed, both main ponds have further enclosed ponds that overflow naturally into them bringing more nutrients and algae.
A 1.2m diameter pipe connects the ponds to the sea and is used as an escape for fresh water and can be used to flush the ponds rapidly if needs be, a clever sluice allows a certain amount of water exchange every day to ‘freshen’ up the system.