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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Cal Flyn

Country diary: Scanning for the brightest seagrass

Snorkelling amid a seagrass meadow in Dingieshowe, Orkney.
Snorkelling amid a seagrass meadow in Dingieshowe, Orkney. Photograph: Lyle Boyle

St Peter’s Pool, a wide bay lining the isthmus that connects mainland Orkney to its Deerness peninsula, doesn’t look like much to shout about. In comparison with Dingieshowe, the glamorous, silk-sand beach it backs on to, it presents as a muddy-looking flat made untidy with worm casts. I’ve never paid it much attention before.

But a few days ago, I joined three marine conservationists as they donned masks and wetsuits, and waded out into its shallows at 7am. They – Dr Esther Thomsen, Lyle Boyle and Nathan Tsang – are spending several weeks in our islands, snorkelling every day as part of the ambitious £2.4m Restoration Forth initiative that will collect Orkney seagrass seeds for relocation to the more damaged Firth of Forth, 200 miles to the south, to help its ailing ecosystem.

A sea hare in a seagrass meadow.
A sea hare in a seagrass meadow. Photograph: Lyle Boyle

As the water rose over our knees, we came upon a hard border where pale rippled sand met dense vegetation, the meadow’s sharp edge. From above, in the dull light of a dreich summer day, it appeared a thick mat of sludge green. But, following Lyle’s lead, I folded forward, flopped on to my belly, and submerged my face and head.

Below the surface was a vision of verdant growth, seagrass undulating gently in the waves. I spotted a starfish barely bigger than my thumbnail, clinging to a blade for dear life, the fleshy cushion of a sea squirt. A tiny, translucent shrimp scooted by. A whole world in miniature, illuminated in shimmering, silvering light – a sanctuary for juvenile fish, hermit crabs and other small sea creatures.

A hermit crab among a seagrass meadow.
A hermit crab in a seagrass meadow. Photograph: Esther Thomsen

Esther, Lyle and Nathan drifted serenely over the seagrass, scanning for reproductive shoots. These are brighter, greener blades that split to reveal ripening seeds like peas in a pod. Harvesting them is easy enough: grasp the shoot with a gloved hand, follow it down to where it branches and pluck it cleanly away. It doesn’t harm a plant; it simply accelerates what happens naturally. A patch of meadow this size – 50 hectares or so – will produce many millions of seeds each year so it can spare a few for a poor relative down south.

Despite my suit, I’m soon shivering. We head back to shore. In the time that it took me to grab a handful, Esther had filled her net bag. Still, every little helps.

• Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary

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