As our Fragment Walks from the 2025/26 season come to an end Project Seagrass Intern Anya Lamparelli reflects on this year’s efforts.
A seagrass fragment is a precious and vulnerable thing. Torn free by winter storms and strong swells these delicate shoots with intricate root systems still attached wash ashore from subtidal seagrass meadows. If left stranded on the sand they will soon dry out, but on the Isle of Wight they are being given a second chance.
Once a month at low tide, volunteers gather at Priory Bay, all eyes trained on the shoreline for a flash of green. Seagrass! Each fragment found is carefully collected and replanted into a growing community meadow.
Since the initiative began three years ago 311 volunteers have joined the Project Seagrass team. Collecting 1,104 fragments over 16 fragment walks. 624 fragments have been replanted at Priory Bay, covering an area of 27 m2. Each month the volunteers revisit what they have already planted and monitor how the meadow is establishing, making field observations on what factors might be influencing its growth and survival.
The remaining fragments have been replanted at the Seagrass Nursery in South West Wales; they will soon be used to support the team’s wider restoration work in the Solent.
Fragment walks unfold under all conditions. Brilliant unbroken sunshine, pink sunsets, and cold grey mornings where the sky and sea blur into one. Yet the turnout remains steady, demonstrating the interest in and growing connection to seagrass meadows in the Solent.
Many volunteers bring with them a deep lived knowledge of the coastline. They know how the beach shifts through the seasons, where sediment builds and erodes and when storms have reshaped the coast. This local insight has become an invaluable part of the project, helping guide where and how we replant seagrass. In turn, we can share our knowledge of ecosystem restoration and marine life. Creating a shared partnership where practitioners and locals learn from each other.
Project Seagrass are working to restore 3.5 hectares of seagrass on the Isle of Wight as part of the Solent Seascape Project. Fragment walks allow us to trial new restoration methods while connecting with the local community.
Thank you to every volunteer who has joined us in the Solent, we look forward to welcoming you back when the fragment walks restart in September 2026.
