Winkling

Winkles are an under appreciated shell fish and on Skye there are up to 200 folk who supplement their incomes by gathering these sea snails, littorina littorea, from beaches at low tide from under seaweed.Known on the west coast as whilks...not whelks...or east coast buckies.To buy from specialist shell fish mongers,one pays £5.50 for 500 grams .The bag the pickers collect them in holds 5 stones and they sell to dealers who then grade and wash them, mostly for export to Europe ,where they are deemed to be an aphrodisiac as well as a delicious shellfish.