Country diary: It’s not easy, finding grass seeds in a river – but this search matters | Claire Stares

Calshot, Hampshire: Underwater meadows are vanishingly rare habitats, so I join a group who are gathering eelgrass seed to help restore them

It’s 6.30am and I’m wading knee-deep in the River Solent, searching for https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/marine/seaweeds-and-seagrass/common-eelgrass">common eelgrass (Zostera marina) seed.

I meander through the shallows, scanning the underwater meadow for something no bigger than my little finger.

I’ve been shown photos of the seed-bearing spathes, but at first the sheer expanse of leaves is overwhelming.

I try combing my fingers through them, feeling for the fleshy flowering spikes, but come up empty-handed.