A sunny Saturday in Swansea and Project Seagrass had a stall set up ready for the British Science Festival’s Family Fun weekend. A big seagrass mural was laid out surrounded by crayons and paints for kids to get stuck in, and immediately the crowds hit. Kids everywhere colouring all kinds of creatures which live in our seagrass meadows- never had any of Project Seagrass seen so many seahorses in one meadow! So with kids hoarding to paint their seahorse, herring or anemone, more space had to be created to accommodate the high demand and the seagrass mural was quickly filled with animals.
It was fantastic to see so much marine life and so many seahorses in our meadow!
As well as the kids getting covered in paint, we had many taking a ‘Seagrass Selfie’; the selfie takers got to dress up as a proper ‘seagrass scientist’ complete with fins and tape measure- some participants being so small that the mask took over their whole face!
Budding seagrass scientists were able to see (and try on) our survey equipment and imagine themselves as marine biologists one day
So beyond the fun and games it was a really successful weekend for spreading the seagrass message with lots of festival goers keen to learn more and get involved, especially with our “SeagrassSpotter” app (which can be found at www.seagrassspotter.org). We met some really interesting people with many seagrass stories, including memories of seagrass in the local area and lots of budding kids keen to learn more and make a splash in a real seagrass meadow.
For many, it was also an opportunity to visit a beautiful parts of Wales. Whilst many have heard of Penrhyn Gŵyr (the Gower Peninsula) few people think of Swansea when a beach holiday comes to mind… Although with the recent promotional work from Visit Swansea Bay this is clearly changing!
Three cliffs bay on the Gower Peninsula is a firm favourite with visitors to Swansea
To be able to share our seagrass science in our hometown of Swansea was a real privilege, and a reminder of just how much Project Seagrass has grown in just three years! Thanks to everyone who came along to the festival and helped make the event such a success!
Here’s to the next three years, iechyd da!