The seeds were gathered from seagrass meadows during a series of low-tide collection sessions at Calshot in Hampshire and Seaview on the Isle of Wight, where volunteers waded and snorkelled through shallow waters to carefully collect mature seed from flowering shoots bearing flowering heads called spathes. 

The collection forms the next stage of the Trust's long-term seagrass restoration programme, which has been working to bring this lost habitat back to the Solent since 2021.

Seagrass meadows in the Solent were once widespread but have declined dramatically over the past century due to disease, pollution, dredging and coastal development. Up to 90% of the UK’s seagrass has been lost, making restoration work in the Solent of national importance. Seagrass is vitally important: it supports marine wildlife, improves water quality, stores carbon, and helps protect coastlines from erosion

Dr Tim Ferrero, Senior Specialist at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, said "Seagrass seed collection is a little like an underwater harvest. Seagrasses are the only fully marine flowering plants and, like plants on land, they flower, pollinate and set seed, but all underwater. We collect only the mature seed-bearing spathes and then use those seeds to help restore seagrass meadows in the Solent.

"This year's collection has been a fantastic success and simply wouldn't have been possible without our volunteers. Whether they're out in the water collecting seed before dawn or helping us process it later in the year, they are at the heart of this work

"When we look out across the Solent today, we're looking at a marine environment that is missing one of its most important habitats. About 100 years ago, we lost around 90 per cent of our seagrass meadows, and since then recovery has been held back by pollution and other human pressures.

"Every seed we collect is another opportunity to bring seagrass back and support wildlife, cleaner water and healthier seas. Healthy seagrass meadows support an incredible variety of marine life. During this year's collections we've seen lots of marine life sheltering among the seagrass including cuttlefish eggs and baby cuttlefish to hermit crabs, highlighting just how important these underwater habitats are."

The restoration work is necessary because natural recovery alone is not enough to restore the vast areas of seagrass lost during the last century. 

Tim adds: "Although seagrass still produces huge numbers of seeds naturally, factors such as historic habitat loss and seed predation mean that recovery can be very slow. By collecting, storing and planting seed, we're giving these meadows a helping hand and helping restore a habitat that has been largely lost from our seas." 

The collected shoots have now been transported to the Institute of Marine Sciences at University of Portsmouth, where the next stage of the restoration process begins. The spathes are placed into specially designed seawater tanks where they undergo a process known as ‘rotting out’. As the spathes naturally break down over an eight to 12-week period, mature seeds are released and collected using a bespoke system with coarse and fine meshes. The system allows seeds to fall through while retaining the plant material, helping to separate, clean and concentrate the seed ready for storage.

The seeds are then stored in carefully controlled conditions until spring next year. Kept at between two and four degrees Celsius in highly saline water, the seeds remain dormant until they are ready to be planted at restoration sites across the Solent. Trust staff and volunteers monitor the seed throughout the winter, regularly changing the water and checking conditions to ensure the seed remains healthy until planting begins.

Tim adds. "It's really an act of love and seed husbandry over the next several months. We inspect them regularly, change the water and make sure the seeds remain healthy and free from problems such as fungal growth."

Next spring, the seeds will be planted using an innovative technique known as Dispenser Injection Seeding, which places a carefully measured mix of seed, sand and mud into the seabed at the optimum depth for germination. Early signs of success are already emerging from previous restoration efforts, with young seagrass plants establishing at sites across the Solent, including at Seaview and in the River Hamble, where seagrass had not been recorded for almost a century

The restoration effort relies heavily on volunteer support. More than 300 Volunteer Seagrass Champions are now signed up to help with all stages of the process, from collecting seed on the shoreline and in the water, to processing, sorting and planting it at restoration sites across the Solent.

The collection supports both the Solent Seascape Project and the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project. Through these initiatives, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is working with partners to restore seagrass meadows and other important coastal habitats across the region.

The Solent Seascape Project brings together ten organisations working to restore seagrass, saltmarsh, native oyster reefs and seabird nesting habitat across the Solent and is funded by the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme and East Head Impact. 

The Solent Seagrass Restoration Project is delivered by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust in partnership with Boskalis Westminster, the University of Portsmouth and the FatFace Foundation, with support from Wightlink, EGS, CooperVision, EcoDrift and Isle of Wight Distillery.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust would like to thank all volunteers, project partners, supporters and landowners, including the Candland Estate, whose support made this year's collection possible.

Restoring seagrass is part of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust's wider vision of creating a region where nature is recovering on land and at sea. Through its new strategy, the Trust is working to restore wildlife habitats, reconnect landscapes and seascapes, and inspire more people to take action for nature, helping build a future where both wildlife and people can thrive.