Solent Seagrass Restoration Project
To work towards our vision of a wilder future and 30% of land and sea restored for nature Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has joined forces with Boskalis Westminster to undertake a seagrass restoration project within the Solent, beginning with an important research and development phase.
We want to see seagrass habitats in the Solent restored towards their historical levels and for seagrass to be present in all locations that could support it. By restoring seagrass habitats, we will create a wilder Solent, supporting increased biodiversity and sustainable fisheries, promoting greater ecosystem services, cleaner water and creating a natural carbon solution to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The project will be led by the Trust’s Senior Marine Biologist, Dr Tim Ferrero and aims to identify the best methodology for restoring this hugely important marine species within the Solent, whilst also monitoring the habitat as a provider of carbon sequestration.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has considerable experience of seagrass surveying and monitoring methods and of seagrass ecology but does not yet have direct experience of seagrass restoration. Through this project and making use of our existing knowledge and expertise, we plan to develop the skills and experience we need to establish the Trust as the local lead for seagrass restoration and more widely throughout the Wildlife Trust movement. This project will enable us to develop both the knowledge and practical skills to undertake seagrass restoration at scale within the Solent region, further support the wider Wildlife Trust movement and help Boskalis lead their industry in developing nature-based solutions to protect and enhance coastal ecosystems globally.
Project updates 2021
June 2021
Whilst we have been visually assessing sites since April, this month we started surveying various seagrass beds across the Solent, monitoring how the plants are growing and when they start flowering.
July 2021
We are delighted that our project has been chosen to receive funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The grant supports the first year of the project, which includes enabling us to purchase an underwater drone to capture footage of the seagrass.
August 2021
University of Portsmouth has joined us as academic partners on the project, providing scientific expertise in restoration ecology and blue carbon analysis. As partners on the project they will also be providing the facilities and laboratories at the Institute of Marine Sciences for the maturation and processing of seagrass seeds.
September 2021
We have been out in Langstone Harbour, collecting seagrass seed with help from volunteers from Boskalis Westminster, Marine Champions and students from University of Portsmouth Institute of Marine Science (IMS).
October 2021
We continued to collect seagrass seed this month. We estimate that we’ve collected around 25,000 seeds which are now at the facility at the Institute of Marine Sciences. The seeds will remain here whilst the plant essentially starts to rot away, and the seed is released. Once this has happened, we’ll be bagging them up 15 and 30 at a time, into small hessian bags called ‘seed bombs’, which will then be ready to go back out into the field as part of the restoration.
November 2021
Students at University of Portsmouth Institute of Marine Science (IMS) having been looking after our seagrass seed - collecting and separating it as it was released during the rotting stage. At the end of the month, we gathered in the laboratory, once again, helped by volunteers from Boskalis Westminster, our Marine Champions and students from IMS, to bag up the seed into the hessian seed bags and pouches ready for deployment.
December 2021
Joined by a team of volunteers from Boskalis Westminster, University of Portsmouth, Langstone Harbour Authority and the Isle of Wight Distillery, as well as some of our Marine Champions, we have undertaken our first intertidal harbour deployment. Together we planted 1025 seagrass seed bombs, containing over 21,000 seeds, out onto an area of the mudflats at Langstone Harbour. The seeds will now be monitored and hopefully in Spring 2022 we will see seagrass.
Project updates 2022
January 2022
We have launched the Solent Seagrass Champion volunteer role! Our Solent Seagrass Champions will assist with the monitoring, surveying and planting of seagrass across the Solent.
February 2022
Following the powerful storms which hit the UK in mid-February, we went to visit our seagrass deployment at Farlington Marshes with project partners, Boskalis Westminster and the University of Portsmouth. We are delighted to see that the plots are still there, and all the seagrass seed pods are still in place.
March 2022
Together with our Solent Seagrass Champions, students and partners we undertook our second and third seagrass deployments in the Solent – this time planting the seagrass species Zostera marina. We deployed 150 seagrass seed pods across a channel on an area of mudflats in Langstone Harbour and BBC Countryfile came to film the planting. We also deployed 625 seagrass seed pods in Seaview (Isle of Wight), bringing the total to ~40,000 seagrass seeds deployed in the Solent since December.
May 2022
We have seen seedling growth at Seaview on the Isle of Wight from a few of our hessian seed pods! This is fantastic news for the project as it is our first recorded success and we will continue to monitor these closely. We have also begun training our Solent Seagrass Champions in surveying and monitoring existing seagrass meadows across the Solent. This will help us to gain a greater understanding of their health and extent, as well as help to inform our future restoration work.
June 2022
We have continued to deliver seagrass survey training sessions for our volunteers on the early morning low spring tides, and are excited to now have 30 Solent Seagrass Champions trained in seagrass survey techniques.
Whilst we have been delivering the training, dedicated teams of our trained Seagrass Champions have been out across the Hampshire and Isle of Wight coastline surveying and monitoring for flowering shoots. The data collected will help to inform our next stage of restoration work in the Solent.
July 2022
We have been collecting Zostera marina seed through snorkelling and wading at Seaview on the Isle of Wight with a team of volunteers. The seeds we harvested are now in an aquarium tank at the University of Portsmouth to begin the rotting out process.
Whilst we have been collecting seed on the island, teams of trained Solent Seagrass Champions have continued surveying existing seagrass meadows and monitoring for developing seed on the Hampshire coastline.
August 2022
We’ve been conducting weekly checks on the Zostera marina seed we collected on the Isle of Wight as it goes through the rotting out process. As the seeds mature, they are being processed and separated from the dead organic matter. The cleaned-up seeds are then stored in a separate tank, with a constant flow through of seawater.
We’ve also had some exciting updates from our project partners. Emma Ward who works at the University of Portsmouth and is heavily involved in the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project, presented her PhD research which focuses on the carbon storage capacity of seagrass in the UK at the World Seagrass Conference in Maryland (USA). Read more here.
The Supercharging Seagrass Restoration hackathon has also launched! Over the next ten weeks are working with Engineering Masters students from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands alongside our project partner Boskalis Westminster, to investigate the upscale potential of seagrass restoration in the Solent.
September 2022
We have been out at Farlington with Solent Seagrass Champion volunteers to collect Zostera noltei seed. This is for our next stage of seagrass restoration work in the harbours.
The seed is currently being stored in open-flow through tanks fed by sea water at the Institute of Marine Sciences as it goes through the process of ‘rotting out.’
October 2022
We undertook our third seagrass deployment of 2022! Joined by our dedicated team of Solent Seagrass Champions volunteers we packed 500 hessian seed pods with the 13,500 Zostera marina seeds we collected back in July, and planted these at low water at Seaview on the Isle of Wight. We’ll be monitoring this restoration plot in early spring for seedling growth.
We have also continued our Zostera noltei seed collection sessions at Farlington throughout October, finding that the seed development is delayed in comparison to 2021.
November 2022
We’ve been monitoring the Zostera noltei seed we collected as it goes through the rotting out process in tanks at the Institute of Marine Sciences.
Between September and November we have also been working closely with Engineering Masters students from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands to investigate the upscale potential of seagrass restoration in the Solent. The students have designed and created a prototype for a unique seed sorting machine which will help to speed up our efforts to planting thousands of seagrass seeds along the Solent's coastline. Find out more here.
December 2022
We filtered and sorted through 5000 Zostera noltei seed with our wonderful Solent Seagrass Champion volunteers in the labs at the Institute of Marine Sciences. The clean seed is now being stored in mesh bags in seawater tanks, and we will be planting these on the mudflats at Farlington in the New Year!
Project updates 2023
January 2023
We have been conducting weekly checks on the Zostera noltei seed, ensuring the seeds remain clean and well aerated.
February 2023
We are delighted to welcome FatFace Foundation as our new partners on the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project! Their support will enable us to scale up our Seagrass Champion programme over the next three-five years, empowering even more people to engage with the project and play an active role in the restoration and protection of seagrass in the Solent
March 2023
Our first seagrass deployment of 2023 is complete! Joined by our project partners and supports we planted the Zostera noltei seed we collected towards the end of last year. Some of the seeds were planted into our hessian ‘ravioli’ seed pods, whilst others were used to trial a pioneering new method of planting called Dispenser Injection Seeding. This method involves filling caulking guns with a sediment/seed mixture which is then injected directly into the mudflat.
The two planting methods were trialled across three plots in Farlington. Half of these plots will have any algal growth removed by hand to monitor whether algal blooms in Langstone Harbour are a factor reducing seedling germination success.
You can watch the video of our deployment here.
April 2023
We have been out on the coastline training more of our wonderful Solent Seagrass Champion volunteers to survey and monitor existing seagrass meadows following the Seagrass-Watch methodology. We have led training sessions at Calshot and Chilling Beach on the Hampshire coastline and joined Project Seagrass for their training sessions at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Over 45 Solent Seagrass Champions have now completed this training.
Dr Tim Ferrero represented the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project and Solent Seascape Project at the inaugural Solent Seagrass Symposium held at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes. He delivered a fantastic talk on our Zostera noltei restoration work to date.
We're also really excited to welcome Vp plc as our new supporters on the project!
June 2023
Our Solent Seagrass Champions have continued to survey our existing seagrass meadows across the Solent. We've also been monitoring our Zostera marina seed collection sites for seed development.
July 2023
We have been collecting Zostera marina seed through snorkelling and wading at Seaview on the Isle of Wight with a team of volunteers. The seeds we harvested are now in an aquarium tank at the University of Portsmouth.
We also welcomed Lauren Brown to the marine team as our Seagrass Restoration Summer Intern!
August 2023
We have been hard at work in the aquarium facilities at the University of Portsmouth, setting up two new larger indoor tanks for all the new seagrass collections, alongside working on constructing a brand-new seed separating system with the University of Portsmouth. This could replace our current method of sieving for seeds and significantly reduce the time and energy needed to collect all the mature seeds.
September 2023
We were delighted that the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project was chosen as Southampton International Boat Show’s charity of the Year! Over the course of the ten-day show, we educated and engaged the general public about the importance of seagrass habitats and our restoration work with the support of volunteers on our stand, and during talks on the main foredeck stage.
October 2023
The Zostera marina seed has been moved from the outdoor tanks and is now being stored in a cold, dark, high-salinity storage aquarium at the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Marine Sciences. This is to put the seeds into a state of dormancy over the Winter months. The seeds will be planted in Spring 2024, with the hope that conditions will be better for seedling emergence and growth.
We have also been monitoring the intertidal Zostera beds in Langstone Harbour for flowering shoots and developing seed, and have found that this is late in comparison to 2022.
November 2023
By early November it was looking like we would finally have our volunteers out on the mudflats to help us with seed collection in Langstone Harbour. However, we sadly had to cancel these sessions due to health and safety concerns over the storms and sewage outflow events. The HIWWT marine team, Tim, Jenny and Ellie, still managed to head out on a few occasions with the appropriate PPE and collected a relatively good haul. These intertidal Zostera seeds will be used as part of germination trials.
On 24th November, we also sorted through the last of the seed from the “rotted out” Zostera marina plant material with the help of our wonderful Solent Seagrass Champion volunteers.
December 2023
We have been tending to and monitoring our Zostera marina and intertidal Zostera seed stored in the high-salinity storage aquarium. We have been doing regular water changes and picking out any seed affected by fungal growth.
Project updates 2024
January 2024
We’re continuing our seed husbandry and monitoring at the Institute of Marine Sciences to maintain seed viability.
February 2024
We completed our first seagrass surveys of 2024 across the Hampshire and Isle of Wight coastline, recording positive signs of growth of Zostera noltei and Zostera marina at existing seagrass meadow sites.
March 2024
On 1st March we invited our partners, supporters and volunteers to join us on World Seagrass Day to celebrate three years of the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project! It was a wonderful event, celebrating the successes of the project to date and the people who have made it possible.
Our MRes student, Uresha Rodrigo, has begun her laboratory studies at the Institute of Marine Sciences to investigate germination rates and different planting sediment mixes. Some of the seed she planted is already germinating and we will be monitoring its future growth and survival.
We also carried out two small-scale Zostera marina deployments using the Dispenser Injection Seeding method. One was at Seaview (Isle of Wight) as part of the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project, the other at Calshot (Hampshire) as part of the Solent Seascape Project.
April 2024
Between Monday 8th April and Wednesday 10th April, we successfully planted 40,000 seagrass seed on the set of low spring tides. 20,000 seed was planted at Seaview (Isle of Wight) as part of the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project and 20,000 seed was planted at Calshot (Hampshire) as part of the Solent Seascape Project.
May 2024
We have been out surveying the existing seagrass meadows at Seaview (Isle of Wight), Chilling Beach and Calshot (Hampshire) with our Solent Seagrass Champion volunteers. The data collected helps to inform our understanding of the health and condition of these habitats. We were also monitoring flowering shoots and developing seed, which will feed into our seed collection efforts in the summer.
FAQ
What is seagrass?
Seagrasses get their name from their green, grass-like leaves, which form extensive lush meadows (or beds) underwater, just like the grass we see in our fields. One of the reasons seagrasses are so special, is that they are the only fully marine flowering plants in the world. Seagrasses live, and reproduce in seawater, but are restricted to shallow coastal areas where there is enough sunlight for them to grow and thrive. Amazingly, seagrasses are estimated to have first evolved when dinosaurs still walked the earth, over 100 million years ago. Today, there are over 60 species of seagrass worldwide, five of which can be found here in the UK.
Why is seagrass so important?
Seagrasses are sometimes known as ecosystem engineers because they can profoundly change the environment in which they are found, creating unique habitats which become biodiversity hotspots for a wide range of wonderful marine wildlife. The long leaves of seagrass are home to all kinds of anemones, hydroids, sea-squirts, sea mats and different algal epiphytes. Seagrasses also stabilise and oxygenate the sediment they grow in, and slow down water currents, making an ideal habitat for juvenile and adult crabs, sea snails, cuttlefish, pipefish, and even seahorses.
Is seagrass different to seaweed?
Seagrasses are easily confused with seaweeds; whilst they are both plant-like and live on our shores, there are some key differences. Seaweeds cling onto the seafloor, often rocks or reef, with a ‘holdfast’ and transport nutrients directly from the water through their body. Whereas, because they are flowering vascular plants, seagrasses have an internal transport system for nutrients they take in through a root system based in seafloor sediment.
What is Blue Carbon?
Blue Carbon is the term used for carbon captured and stored by the world’s coastal and marine ecosystems. Blue carbon has a huge role to play in tackling the climate crisis, as oceans absorb 20-35% of human-made carbon emissions every year.
How can you get involved?
Whilst we begin work on the research and development phase of our restoration project, we also want to increase awareness of seagrass and its vital role in tackling the climate and ecological emergencies.
You can help support the project and the wider work of the Trust in a number of ways:
