The alarm goes off at 5 am and, as I blindly reach over to turn off the offensive sound, I have to question all the choices I’ve made that have led to me being in this situation. When you’re bleary eyed and not fully awake, it’s hard to remember why you do this.  

30 minutes later, as we pull into the parking lot in front of our Seaview site on the Isle of Wight, I am immediately reminded. The sea is bathed in warm sunlight, peppered with black-headed gulls and the occasional heron. You can smell the salt on the breeze, and everything is calm and still. Who wouldn’t wake up early every morning if this was the view that greeted you?

Soon, the marine team and eager volunteers have all gathered around with one goal in mind, seagrass seed collecting! As part of the seagrass restoration work, the Trust collects seagrass seeds each year over the summer months so that they can be planted during spring in order to expand already existing meadows in the Solent. 

Seed collection happens multiple times over the summer, sometimes twice a day, always at low tide, and it definitely wouldn’t be possible without volunteers. Some volunteers are true veterans that have been doing this for years and come to every session without fail, while others have only just found out about this and are eager to get started. Regardless, they are all excited as Ellie Parker, Senior Marine Officer, delivers the safety briefing and tells everyone what to look for and how to pick the seeds.  

We all head down the beach, some of us in wetsuits, some in waders, or shorts and boots, having a mesh bag at the ready to collect seeds in. Just before reaching the low water line, however, one of our volunteers spots a weird looking slug, orange and full of bumps.  

It is a Warty Doris (Doris verrucosa), a nudibranch that had eight delicate gills at its rear end and likes to feed on sponges that encrust rocks. This species was first reported in the UK in 2023 by one of our amazing volunteers and it’s considered quite rare. For us to just spot this little fellow on a beach we know so well is immediately exciting! As all the volunteers gather around to have a look, we notice two more individuals just on the next rock! We almost can’t believe our eyes! 

We ended up spotting some more in the coming days, and during a shore survey at Colwell, volunteers recorded 30 sightings! While incredibly exciting, their appearance could be a sign of rising sea temperatures.  

Once we finally reached the water, the meadow becomes visible, right there just below the surface. Everyone quickly gets to work, finding a good patch and starting to pick the seeds. Sometimes, if the tide is out far enough, you can just sit down anywhere and there will be an abundance of spathes full of seeds in every direction. Other times, it is deep enough to snorkel with the meadow gently swaying beneath you. Regardless of tide height, it’s easy to spot that the meadow is brimming with life.  

Seagrass meadows play a very important nursery role for so many marine animals, from commercially important fishes to even the smallest nudibranchs. This is immediately evident as, while we’re picking seeds, we can spot tiny fish darting in and out of creeks in the meadow. Someone points out some cuttlefish eggs which are a bundle of dark beads with a pointed tip, attached to a seagrass shoot for protection from strong currents or predators. They can sometimes be called sea grapes, thanks to how they look, and when the babies hatch, they are miniature versions of their parents, ready to take on the world.  

Over the course of our seed collection sessions, I have discovered that I am weirdly good at spotting stalked jellyfish. I do not know how I came about this talent, however, I am grateful for it today, as I notice one just next to a spathe I was about to pick.  

Stalked jellyfish, while in the same phylum (Cnidaria), are only a loosely related cousin of the larger planktonic jellyfish. They’re a delicate orange-tinted, upside-down umbrella with tentacles pointing upwards. This one is gently swaying with the current, attached to a seagrass blade.  

By far the most exciting sight of the day, however, is a stunning compass jellyfish (Chrysaora hysoscella) that has been caught in the seagrass blades. A bloom of jellyfish has recently been reported in the Solent, so we’re not totally surprised to see this, but it is a bit unexpected as larger pelagic jellyfish very rarely end up in seagrass meadows. The bell of this delicate creature has brown markings that are reminiscent of a compass, but with this species, the tentacles are what you watch out for as they can sting quite a bit. As we all gather to see it, we keep our distance but still manage to admire its beauty. 

After a little over an hour, once everyone has picked a bag full of precious seeds and successfully managed to not get too distracted by the amazing wildlife, we start to head back to the top of the beach. If, at the beginning, we were a bit quiet and bleary eyed, now, we’re all chatting away, excited to have seen all this amazing natural beauty. If you’re wondering if we ever get a bit competitive about who has picked the most seeds, the official answer is that 'every seed is incredibly valuable and however many seeds one manages to pick is simply amazing', but just between you and me? Yes, yes, we do get a bit competitive.  

We end the session with a warm drink and some delicious biscuits. All the seeds are placed in large kegs full of seawater, ready to be taken back to the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, where they can be stored over the winter until they’re ready to be planted.  

There are still quite a few steps that need to be done before the seeds are ready for planting, steps that wouldn’t be possible without our amazing volunteers which we are incredibly grateful for. If you would like to get involved, send an email at marine@hiwwt.org.uk  as we’d love to have you on board!