The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Trust offers a seagrass Christmas present for nature lovers

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Trust are offering a unique Christmas gift this year, which will also play a big part in the restoration of endangered marine habitats.

This festive season, the trust is offering people to sponsor a seagrass seed pod, which is a pod containing between 15 and 45 seeds tied up in a biodegradable hessian sack that will be planted by hand in areas of mudflats along the Solent’s coastline.

Dr Tim Ferrero, the trust’s senior marine biologist and the lead on the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project, said: ‘Seagrass is an incredibly important habitat for our coast. These ecosystems are vital to create a Wilder Solent, and we’re aiming to get as many people involved as possible – which is why we’re encouraging locals to sponsor a Seagrass pod for Christmas.

Seagrass meadows are vital to drawing in a range of marine wildlife which has the ability to capture carbon, reduce flood risk and reduce coastal erosion, making them a necessity in the battle to stop climate change.

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Although the habitat is increasingly important, it faces risk with 92 per cent of seagrass being lost in the UK over the last century, and the seagrass seed pods, which will cost £20, can help restore the habitat.

The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has joined up with Boskalis Westminster and the University of Portsmouth to restore these habitats in the Solent by planting more than 2,300 seagrass seed pods.

The trust has now set out to achieve a huge target of planting an additional 2,000 seagrass seed pods within the next year.

Dr Ferrero added: ‘It’s a wonderfully unique gift that gives so much more, as regenerating seagrass meadows will not only create more space for wildlife but, as one of our most effective natural carbon stores, it also helps in the fight against climate change.’

If you would like to sponsor a seagrass seed pod for someone special this Christmas, you can find more details on the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Trust website.