- May 30, 2024
Thanks to the support of local volunteers and landowners Stena Line, 50,000 seagrass seeds were planted last month at sites near Holyhead, covering an area of 150 m2.
The planting followed on from a successful stakeholder engagement session held at Holyhead Sailing Club in March 2024, which was attended by members of the local community, alongside several local businesses and organisations.
Pen Llŷn a’r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation Officer Alison Palmer Hargrave said “It has been fantastic to start the planting trials on Anglesey. I’d like to say a big thank you to all those that took part and helped make it successful. We also met some great people at a recent drop-in session in Holyhead, and I’m looking forward to working with them in the coming months.”
The two planting sites in the Holyhead Bay (Penrhos Headland and Penrhyn) were selected based on local ecological knowledge provided by the community and because small patches of seagrass were found in these areas. The team will be back in the autumn to monitor the planted seagrass to inform future planting plans.
The spring planting in the Holyhead Bay forms part of a wider programme of work called Seagrass Ocean Rescue North Wales, which aims to plant seagrass over an area of ten hectares across North Wales between 2022 and 2026. The programme is being managed by WWF, in
partnership with Project Seagrass, the North Wales Wildlife Trust and Pen Llŷn a’r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Swansea University. The programme is made possible with support from funders that include the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Garfield Weston
Foundation, and the Moondance Foundation.
There will be more opportunities to get involved in the project including future planting events, seed collection, seagrass festivals, and drop-in sessions. For more information about the upcoming programme please contact Alison at: alisonpalmerhargrave@gwynedd.llyw.cymru or
to volunteer, please email: volunteers@projectseagrass.org