Seagrass Mapping

Join the Restoration Forth team for an outdoor session to learn all about seagrass, the marine super plant! Attendees will learn about this great habitat-forming species, how to spot it and how to monitor its health over time. This session will focus on mapping of seagrass by using GPS markers to identify the extent of seagrass at the site. You can also find out more about our trial restoration site at Belhaven Bay and how to get involved in conserving this valuable coastal habitat.

Event description

This science session will start and finish at Tyninghame beach carpark EH42 1XW, taking participants to Belhaven Bay to complete the activity, before returning to the car park. Please note there is a parking charge of £2.50 at this location.

This activity will include a short introduction to seagrass and Restoration Forth by our Seagrass Officer, Eleri. You will learn the importance of seagrass ecosystems and the benefits they provide to our coastal environments. We will look at how to identify the two species of seagrass we find on UK shores and then conduct a short monitoring survey to determine the health of our seagrass patches. During this session, we will be using GPS markers to identify the extent of seagrass at the site.

We ask all volunteers to be ready by 9:30am, at Tyninghame beach carpark. We are entirely dependent on the low tide for our monitoring work, so we will be beginning our activities at 9:30am sharp and will not be able to wait for latecomers. Together we will walk out to the seagrass meadow site and begin our activities. We aim to finish our work on the beach and return to the carpark by approximately 1:30pm.