Volunteering for Project Seagrass in Porthdinllaen, North Wales, August 2023
Close up of seagrass seeds, notice the lighter green coloured strands - these are the seagrass’ reproductive shoots which are the parts we collected.
I recently had the opportunity to volunteer with Project Seagrass, an organisation working towards science-based solutions to global challenges for seagrass. My mum and I headed to Porthdinllaen in North Wales this August to volunteer for them collecting seagrass seeds for future plantation of seagrass meadows. “In the last 40 years, we’ve lost one third of seagrass meadows globally. Since 2013, Project Seagrass has been committed to reversing that trend, working to conserve seagrass to ensure that the benefits they provide communities are sustained now and for the future. By bridging community, research and action, we can save the world’s seagrass!” (Source) Our voluntary work is so vital for the future of our seagrass ecosystems.
Volunteers picking seagrass seeds in Porthdinllaen.
So how did we get involved? For the final project of my Illustration degree, I decided to do a whole project about sealife and activism, encouraging people to protest for better protection of species. My main focus ended up being on seaweed and seagrass and promoting more plantation of species to replace lost habitats and aid carbon capture. You can see more of my work on the project here. During this, I researched UK based organisations and charities doing their bit for sealife and came across Project Seagrass and ended up signing up for their volunteering programme. Little did I know that they would reach out just after I finished my final submission to take part in their voluntary seagrass seed collection down in Porthdinllaen, a remote village in North Wales along the West Coast only accessible to visitors by foot. I was so excited and said my mum and I would go along for one of the collection days.
Me with Tim the beach cat outside Tŷ Coch Inn.
We booked a stay in a small hotel in the next town over for a couple of days and headed down to Wales. On our first evening, we wondered along to the tiny village of Porthdinllaen along the shore to get a feel for the area we’d be returning to at 7am the following morning. We instantly spotted the signs of seagrass which grows around the coast of the UK in sheltered areas such as harbours, estuaries, lagoons and bays. We stopped for a pint and crisps at the only pub in the village (and one of the only buildings) right on the beach, Tŷ Coch Inn, a quirky pub equipped with a friendly beach cat which we later found out was called Tim - definitely worth the visit if you get the chance. We walked back along round the back of Porthdinllaen, through the golf course to get back to the National Trust car park before going for our tea at The Cliffs in Morfa Nefyn (great vegan options too!)
The next morning, we woke up at 6am and grabbed our veggie sausage and bacon butties (kindly prepared by the hotel) and headed off to the car park with our swimming gear. We had to park and walk for 20 mins to the seagrass seed collection area as it’s the only way to access the beach. On the way, we stumbled into another two people already in their wetsuits who were also volunteering and we all walked across the golf course and down the village. We greeted the Project Seagrass team and other volunteers as they arrived as well as of course saying hello again to Tim who was really friendly and seemed to follow us wherever we went. After having an introduction to the tide conditions and hearing more about what we were going to be doing, we got changed into some waders as the conditions were quite murky in the water so we didn’t need to snorkel for the seeds like we were originally told. Either way, my mum and I were happy we didn’t need to faff around with our wetsuits and just slipped the wader over the top of our clothes.
Volunteers picking the seagrass seeds in the meadow.
The volunteers and staff headed down the beach and out into the seagrass meadow which was so beautifully green near the boats in the bay. We were taught about how to spot and pick the reproductive shoots of the seagrass (see photo at top of post) without pulling up the rest of the seagrass plant - they were very fragile and you’d pull up the whole plant if not careful. Each volunteer was given a mesh bag to put all of the seeds into and we quickly all got into the flow of picking the seeds in the shallows. We were getting to know each other better and I loved finding out about how the Project Seagrass team got involved with this project in the first place. Some were marine biologists and others were taking part in the work as part of their uni degrees. The volunteers came from all over the UK to spend a short holiday in the area just like me and my mum, all equally as invested in tackling the climate crisis in whatever way they could.
Close up of a seagrass seed pod.
We stayed out in the meadows for about an hour before heading back onto the beach to pool our seeds together in a big finer mesh bag. The staff explained that the reproductive shoots would be left to rot away leaving only the seeds behind in the bag before being taken to their nearby seagrass growing facility where the seeds would be planted and left to grow before being planted in nearby sheltered bays in February once they are mature. There was also a group of voluntary divers who headed out to a different part of the coast to do some seed collection in the depths - they were saying that it was much faster to collect the seeds in this way as they had knives that would allow them to harvest more effectively than by hand. Maybe something for the future if I decide I want to learn to dive? Saying that, my mum did do a lot of diving when she was younger!
Once we finished collecting, we headed back to the car along the beach seeing everyone just waking up and taking their dogs out. We went back to our hotel for some coffee and toast and spent some time relaxing before heading back to our room for a rest. Now because we had brought our wetsuits all that way without using them for the volunteering, we decided we’d make use of them and headed on a coastal walk, spotting lots of mushrooms along the way (my first time seeing Horse mushrooms!) before then heading for a dip in the sea at Morfa Nefyn. It was really lovely but very cold so we were very grateful for the full body wetsuits. We headed for tea at The Ship Inn in Edern nearer the hotel and had some lovely burgers (again good vegan options!) I was absolutely knackered by the time we got back to our room so I took a shower and spent the evening relaxing with some crochet. My mum headed out into the (unusually) empty terrace with her book and a glass of wine to enjoy the sunset.
The next morning, we headed off to various different seaside towns including Abersoch, Pwllheli and Criccieth and spent the day doing coastal walks and sitting with coffees in little cafes. We particularly enjoyed the coffee and scones at Cadwaladers in Criccieth as my mum remembered she went here many years ago for ice cream. I really loved the town of Borth-y-Gest and would like to go back for longer in future. We then gradually made our way to Bangor where we were staying for an extra night and had a lovely time. I came back with lots of driftwood that I’m planning to use for some new appliqué banners inspired by our time volunteering and the other trinkets we found on the beach.
Group photo of the Project Seagrass team and volunteers - I’m holding the big bag of seeds we collected!
We had a lovely time in Wales and hope to come back again next year for some more seed collection. It was a good excuse for a holiday and I hope that next time I can perhaps get some friends involved and hopefully my partner this time (he managed to break his ankle a few weeks ago!) Who knows, maybe it’ll become a yearly tradition for us and maybe my dad could even spend time at the remote golf course there too - I have a feeling the winds would make play a little tricky!
Project Seagrass heads out to the seagrass meadows in North Wales every August and you can find more about becoming a volunteer here. Doing everything we can to fight climate crisis is more important that ever and we all have a responsibility to take care of the planet.
