Football pitch-sized reef created to home 10,000 wild oysters in North Sea

A new reef the size of a football pitch has been created in the North Sea as a home for 10,000 native oysters in a conservation project that will help remove pollutants from the water.

The molluscs have been dubbed “superheroes” of the oceans because of their ability to filter 200 litres of water a day each – enough to fill a bath.

The Wild Oysters Project has seen 10,000 of them added by hand to the reef, which is a mile off Whitburn, Sunderland, and was made from 750 tonnes of local stone and scallop shells.

Conservationists said the reef should create a new marine ecosystem alongside the oysters.