Over the weekend our estuaries team was up in Argyll and Bute learning more about seagrass and oyster restoration from Seawilding.
Seawilding is the first community led native oyster and seagrass restoration project in the UK. Like many similar projects, including our own, they aim to restore lost biodiversity, sequester carbon and create green jobs. They are also the front runners in low-cost, best practice methodologies and are encouraging other coastal communities to do the same. Which is why we paid them visit, to learn what they have done so far and get an insight into what may or may not work for our restoration project. Also, to network with other groups around the UK who are trying to do the same.
The start of the weekend was all about Oyster! We learnt about the equipment and set up Seawilding use and took a trip out on the loch to their oyster nursery to see it all in action. This was then followed by a look into how they use the pontoons at the marina to engage with the local community and schools. To finish off the day we had a delicious BBQ, which to no one's surprise was accompanied by rain down pours!
Day two focussed on seagrass and capturing good images for project promotion. After going over some seagrass monitoring and survey techniques we took to the loch for some snorkelling. The seagrass was growing right by the shore and had so much wildlife living within. From peacock worms to anemones and nudibranchs to various crab and fish species. The amount of biodiversity the seagrass meadow has brought to the area was very apparent – unfortunately, even after learning some new photography skills, capturing that with a decent photo was very challenging.
Overall, the team had an amazing weekend! It was very valuable seeing what worked and didn’t work on a project that is further along. Hopefully we will be able to incorporate some of that into our own project. It was also great to meet other organisations doing similar work and discuss what they have learnt so far.
Thank you Seawilding for hosting and sharing your project with us!
Comments