Researchers at the University of Glasgow have turned to an unusual data source in the hunt for Scotland's lost native oyster beds: the Gaelic and Scots place-names of the west coast. Working on Mull and Islay, the team behind Project Eisirean searched coastal names for Gaelic oyster terms and for habitat words describing features such as sandy banks and tidal causeways, then applied scientific survey techniques to test whether oysters were, or had been, present at the sites.
The approach worked. The team identified at least one important oyster bed that had never been documented, and confirmed that oysters could plausibly have been present at several other named locations. The finding matters because native oyster beds, once abundant around Scotland, collapsed historically, and restoration efforts depend on knowing where oysters thrived. Linguistic heritage, the project shows, can hold ecological memory that conventional records have lost.
Project Eisirean, led by University of Glasgow ecologist Dr Anna McGregor and funded by UK Research and Innovation with support from NatureScot and Argyll and Bute Council, now moves into restoration. The team will trial a mobile oyster hatchery, beginning at Millport, with the aim of supplying oyster larvae to coastal communities rebuilding their beds. Bilingual educational materials for schoolchildren are also planned, and results will be shared through the Native Oyster Restoration Alliance.