Ormerers make the most of low tide

And they made the most of the 0.5m tide yesterday – one of the lowest of the season.

Most at Lihou had a small catch, but saw many more undersized molluscs.

‘It was about nearly four dozen last time between myself, Sarah and our son Wil,’ said Stuart Crisp, who alongside his wife had found four.

‘Over the season between us we’ve had nearly 300.’

They came for most of the tides, with their largest catch on 1 January.

Mrs Crisp said: ‘It’s the end of the season isn’t it? Our biggest I think, not many people realised it was an ormering tide.

‘We’ve got our hooks and gauge, everything we need except ormers. We cook them the northern Vale way – we fry them very slowly, in the pan with bacon. They’re a wonderful taste, like no other.

‘I’d be very interested if people got big catches today.

'Wil is trying out Fort Grey today. It’s lovely being down here – the pleasure of being at Lihou at low tide.’

On his fifth or sixth attempt this season, Mark Piprell found four, with an ormer hook and a trowel.

‘There are definitely less this time.

‘I’m not going again next year, I said this would be my last. All the white rocks have already been turned, not everyone turns them back.’

Usually he sets out two hours before the tide comes up before heading back when it does.

‘One thing I have noticed this year that I haven’t seen before is there’s a lot of ladies out ormering.’

Usual Perelle ormerer Donald Ogier tries Lihou and arrived an hour before the tide and found six.

‘I give the ormers a good beating before cooking them,’ he said.

‘It’s one of those things, you either love them or you hate them. People ask if I have any spare, but I’ve never sold any in my life.

‘This is a good tide, so anyone with any sense will be as close to the shoreline as possible.

‘I’ve seen a lot of small ones, they tagged some down here a few years ago but I’ve never seen any tagged ones. Someone before said they had six dozen.’

His son Mark said: ‘I strike them in the nooks and crannies.

‘I’ve lifted a few rocks but the rest I found in the crickings, where people haven’t bothered to look. There were lots of very little ones.’

Today’s low tide of 0.7m will be at 3.20pm.