Thermidor, our long standing resident orange lobster is released back into the ocean

An exceptionally rare orange lobster has been returned to the ocean by Padstow fisherman and hatchery supporter Mr David Evans. The adult hen lobster, whose shell was bright orange (due to a genetically inherited pigmentation), was nicknamed ‘Thermidor’ by staff who thought her colouration looked more like that of a cooked lobster. The feisty female has spent her last 2 years on display in the aquarium section of the hatchery’s visitor centre.

Hatchery technician Charlie Ellis said, “we like to rotate our display animals when we can so they don’t get too used to a small territory and a hearty diet of mussels and fish, and Thermidor is our longest serving display animal. David is due to be releasing some of our hatchery-reared juveniles into the wild soon, and he’s agreed to take Thermidor out at the same time. She’s also now matured to the age where she’s ready to start breeding; this year she laid thousands of eggs but had no male around to fertilise them, so it’ll be interesting to see in the future, if she is caught pregnant, whether the next generation of lobsters we raise here at the Hatchery will be orange!”.

Replacing Thermidor in the visitor centre is a crawfish, or Spiny Lobster, a locally rare species with enormous antennae and a spikey armoured shell, who is settling nicely into her new home.

Winner of our star raffle prize

Congratulations to Hazel Thwaites from Surrey who won the amazing raffle prize of 2 nights dinner, bed and breakfast and flights to the Isles of Scilly, staying at the luxurious Hell Bay Hotel.  Thank you to the sponsors of the raffle, Hell Bay Hotel and Isles of Scilly Travel.  We were able to raise £1,500 from raffle sales.

The raffle was drawn at our Race Night at The Old Custom House in Padstow, thank you to Linda who let us take over the pub.  We had a really fun evening and some of the luckier people went home with winnings, others, like myself bet on all the losing horses!  We did another raffle on the night with all the the losing tickets from the races because Bedruthan Steps Hotel had heard about our fundraising evening and sent us a beautiful package for a spa day for 2.  Sue Gregory was the lucky winner.

Thank you also to The Metropole Hotel who sponsored a race.

Eddie Gilbert’s to sponsor lobster release for British Food Fortnight

Ramsgate’s award-winning Eddie Gilbert’s restaurant is celebrating British Food Fortnight (18^th September to 3^rd October) by sponsoring The National Lobster Hatchery.

Each time customers order Eddie Gilbert’s seafood platter, the restaurant will donate £1 to the Hatchery. The platter, which costs £36, for two, includes a whole lobster, a dressed crab, smoked salmon, oysters, crevettes, cockles, ceviche of scallop and brown shrimps.

“We have always been focused on sourcing the freshest, highest quality seafood, sourced as locally as possible – we don’t sell exotic endangered species like blue fin tuna,” said proprietor Jonny Dunhill, who also owns the wet fish shop and gourmet fish and chips takeaway that operate at street level beneath the first floor restaurant. “It’s in the businesses’ long-term interests to promote sustainable fishing.”

Check out their sample menus - the food looks fantastic!

Another date for your diary - Clovelly Lobster & Crab Feast

Sunday 5th September 2010 10am to 5pm at Clovelly Harbour, North Devon – Clovelly is a must see on its own merit, a hidden treasure.

Clovelly Estate holds a festival each year to  pay tribute to Clovelly's famous lobsters and crabs with a day of live folk music, a lobster hypnotist, quay kitchen, wine and beer tasting, local food stalls, prize draw, arts and crafts stalls, live exhibits, photographic exhibition and entertainment for the children too. 

Last year and this year, the money raised will be donated to the National Lobster Hatchery.  We will will be releasing baby lobsters just beyond the harbour and we will have a stand on the quay where you can come and see our baby lobsters up close and personal, adopt your own lobster or buy some lobster goodies.

The Red Lion Harbour bar will be offering delicious seafood, crab and lobster platters, each with a complimentary glass of champagne, for £14.95.

See you there!

Clovelly Harbour, North Devon

RACE NIGHT AT OLD CUSTOM HOUSE, PADSTOW

We’re organising another fund raising event with a difference.  Do you fancy your luck on the races?  The event will take place at the Old Custom House in Padstow on Friday 8th October 2010 from 8pm onwards.  We will be hosting an entertaining evening of horse racing, you will be able to bet on choosing the winning horse for each race.

Entry is free, you don’t need to book.  Just come along, support our baby lobsters, have fun and go home with your winnings.

We will also be having another raffle but this time there is only one prize and it’s sensational!  Imagine yourself and someone special to you, flying over to the Isles of Scilly and staying for two luxurious nights at the exclusive Hell Bay Hotel on Bryher.  Tickets are on sale now for the raffle, so please phone us on 01841 533877 and we can take your payment over the phone.  Tickets cost £1 each.

We are also offering businesses the chance to sponsor a race, there will only be 8 races so don’t delay.  For £30, a race will be named after your business, so for instance ‘the Padstow Bakery Derby’ and the business names will appear on the race card.

Thank you to the sponsors of the event: The Old Custom House, Hell Bay Hotel, Isles of Scilly Travel.

Lobsters find their feet at the Isles of Scilly

On the 9th July the Lobster Hatchery took 1000 baby lobsters over to the Isles of Scilly to be released back into the wild. The release was made possible with the support from the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company who gave us a free crossing for the lobsters, staff and equipment and also to the Hell Bay Hotel who laid on the accommodation, boats and local knowledge to be able to release onto perfect lobster ground.

We were up with the sunrise at 4am and on a tight schedule.  Westcountry ITV News joined us at 5am to film us packing up the last few lobsters at the hatchery and then followed us to Penzance where our lobsters were craned on to the Scillonian.

In between coffee and bacon rolls on the Quay, we had photographers from the press and a live interview for Radio Cornwall.  On arrival Henry, Tresco Harbour Master, Philip Callan, General Manager of Hell Bay Hotel and our pristine boats awaited us and the lobsters were loaded straight on board.  We were off out to Bryher to bid our lobsters farewell.

As we drifted slowly along the channel between Bryher and Tresco the baby lobsters were poured into a box on the boat where sea water was pumped directly out of the sea into our release box at one end and out down a wide necked tube the other end, directly to the seabed. Lobsters at this stage in their life cycle bury under the gravel for two years and they are very rarely seen in the wild during this time, by people, but most importantly predators.

Everybody on board took pleasure in putting lobsters back into the sea, Alistair the Chef and Philip, General Manager of Hell Bay Hotel, the camera crew, Henry, the Harbour Master and Tristan Dorrien-Smith. Later that evening, we met a couple who had been watching us from the shore and they said ‘they couldn’t understand what was going on, it seemed we were putting things back into the sea, as opposed to taking things out?’ – it does feel good.

Philip Callan, Hell Bay Hotel is really keen on getting involved with the work of the Lobster Hatchery and we hope this is just the beginning of a long term partnership. Although we have released lobsters on the Isles of Scilly in the past, we have never released so many in one trip and we would like to think that that we can make it an annual event.

JOB VACANCY FOR VISITOR CENTRE ASSISTANT

We are looking for a part time Visitor Centre Assistant for the summer, 2pm – 8pm Saturday’s & Sunday’s to start immediately.  Minimum wage.  Please contact Dom Boothroyd, General Manager on 01841 533877.  Thank you