whatEvin grins from ear to ear at the usual Periwinkle. This beautiful and striped mollusk, perched on a sandstone rock where the Solent laps the peach sands of St Helens beach, speaks to Kevin of what he playfully endures in the natural world. Like most members of our 12-strong group, Kevin signed up for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Coastal Survey Volunteer Day to help calm his climate worries.
“It’s nice to do something for our coastal environment instead of sitting at home worrying about ecosystem destruction,” he says; He last poked in rock pools as a child in the 1970s.

Kevin and I stand ankle-deep in the Isle of Wight Rock pool, in awe of the marine life around our feet. There are mollusks of all sizes, and meters of white bladderwrack; There are strange, potato-shaped creatures called sea squirts and, in the interstellar region where green coastal seaweeds give off gold and red hues, today’s Holy Grail: a group of flowering seaweeds that represent the light of our planet. Hope when it comes to dealing with climate change.
“Seagrasses are the unsung heroes of marine ecosystems,” says Emily Stroud, a marine biologist who is leading today’s Isle of Wight intertidal survey. “They absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the surrounding seawater, and their long leaves slow the flow of water, which encourages the carbon to settle on the ocean floor, where it is buried. These little stars also protect us from coastal erosion. “
Unfortunately, in most global contexts these industrial marine plants – which include common ribbon-like eelgrasses, flat-fronted anhlus grass and Mediterranean species such as Neptune grass – are retreating. More than 90% of Britain’s seagrasses have disappeared, with most of the destruction occurring in the 20th century, when rapid industrialization led to poor water quality leading to diseases that decimated our native grasses. Sediment and turbidity have played their part, as have anchors and fishing nets, commercial seaweed production, and the tourist industry—especially in the Pacific and South-East Asia—where the desire for pristine-looking beaches has taken over. of sea grasses.

The way Stroud sees it, seagrasses are a prime example of the wonders in store along our shores, if we’re willing to protect these precious habitats instead of destroying them to become a beach oasis in our narrow space.
“It’s common to remove seagrasses to make them look like beach postcards,” says Leanne Cullen-Unsworth, founder of Project Seagrass. In collaboration with the Wildlife Trust, Project Seagrass is working to raise awareness of this undersung habitat, as pilot projects in the Isle of Wight and Pembrokeshire explore how best to regrow Britain’s degraded intertidal gardens.

In 2021, the Wildlife Trust made its first deployment of 1,025 mixed seagrass seed bombs on mudflats in Langstone Harbor on the Isle of Wight; They will mature into adult seagrasses this summer.
As well as tracking the presence and health of Solent seagrasses, we are here today to monitor intertidal animal and algal species. The Trust’s volunteer survey data, along with data from the Wildlife Trust’s ShoreSearch programme, will be used by government consultancy Natural England to monitor the effects of global warming. In a survey conducted in 2020, the team found the bright-pink eggs of a breeding sea hare — a pink-snouted sea snail often found off the coast of California. Brightly colored European and cuckoo fish have been recorded at Keyhaven in Hampshire.
“There are some species that we keep an eye on, because they are indicators of climate change, like peacock tail algae. We’re at the eastern limit here for rare species, so if it starts to spread further north, we’re going to have some serious problems with ocean temperatures,” says Stroud. We can assume that it has progressed.”
Fellow marine volunteer Sarah wants to set up a weekend rock-pooling school for Isle of Wight children, and is keen to identify her brittle stars from her bryozoans. “It’s not quite swimming cozies and sunglasses,” she laughs.

We peer under the cliffs as seagulls squawk around us and kitesurfers glide across the bay bathed in spring sunshine. “Look,” she says, her camera trained on a rock pool that glows an almost metallic cobalt, reflecting the blue sky above. As Kevin totes the clipboard on which he’s recording our living discoveries, Sarah casually picks up a green shore crab, which has a female round belly, and curls its shapely legs around her fingers. “Sweetie, isn’t she?” Sara says in surprise.
Today’s marine volunteers are a mixed bunch: locals like Sarah and Kevin, but also key visitors like me. In the summer, Stroud tells me, they see many mainlanders combine a period of marine volunteering with a trip to the beautiful halls of Queen Victoria’s late-life retreat, Osborne House, or the island’s other eco attractions, including Tapnell Farm. i am sitting
A former dairy farm in the west of the island, Tapnell is one of a handful of energy-positive family resorts in the UK. It sends enough electricity to the grid to power 100 homes every year, with eco pods made from natural materials and boreholes supplying water on site, a low-waste restaurant and an animal rescue center home to Vietnamese, Vietnamese. Pot-bellied pigs and meerkats.
At St Helens, as the sun sets over the Solent, it’s time to retreat before the tide comes in for a group of budding sea champions. Our leader shouts at the 12 heads, which like spring daffodils are curiously bent over the rock pools.

“Did you know that common limpet teeth are the strongest natural material on Earth?” Stroud asks, gesturing with a strand of green-fronded eelgrass that has grown unrooted in the intertidal zone. “They are stronger than diamonds: isn’t that wonderful?”
And with that we’re wading through the rock pools in our wellies, with a nice glow that can beat any beach tan.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s seagrass survey volunteer days are free and take place at various locations.. Accommodation was provided by Tapnell Farm, whose pod sleeping four costs from £112 one night Ferry transport was provided by Wightlink, including a new low-carbon hybrid vessel, Victoria Isle of Wight, from Portsmouth Fishborne, Returns from £26.80 (on foot or bicycle).
Three more beach-saving breaks
Beach litter-picking, Cornwall
Plastic waste is a scourge of many coastal areas, affecting water quality and choking wildlife. From the secluded coves of Polperro to the wide sands of Penzance, Clean Cornwall organizes regular, small-scale, county-wide clean-ups that anyone can join. cleancornwall.org
Seagrass Plantation, Pembrokeshire
Project Seagrass’s first large-scale project, Seagrass Ocean Rescue, is re-establishing giant seagrass meadows in the Dales of West Wales, with plants grown from seeds collected on the British coast. Find volunteer opportunities on the Facebook group volunteer page. facebook.com
Seaweed search, Scottish coast
The Scottish coast is home to some of the largest areas of CO in the world2– Storing kelp. Together with the Natural History Museum, the Greater Seaweed Discovery Volunteer Program helps to map the distribution of 14 major species of seaweed, to protect their health and future marine diversity. Register for free, download your recording form and find information on the sites at mcsuk.org