This summer has seen me fortunate enough to dive in seagrass on several occasions – between the Mediterranean and the Outer Hebrides, but as many of you will know, we have plenty of seagrass right here on the Moray coast (MOC seagrass survey map/ seagrass GeMS data) and all these subtidal meadows are teeming with life!

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In Scotland, we class seagrass beds as a priority marine feature (PMF) among other things because they provide shelter and nursery areas for tons of other species – and the seagrass bed at Rosemarkie is no exception. On my first visit to the seagrass bed at Rosemarkie over the summer, we dropped in off the beach on an evening high tide and after about a 10-minute underwater swim we saw a dark patch ahead of us – we’d managed to find the seagrass bed. Neither of us had dived here before and we were very excited to see the seagrass blades were full of nudibranchs and snails and teeny tiny hermit crabs. Anyone who has dived with me will know I am always on the look-out for little things – in particular little colourful nudibranchs or slugs of the sea. A friend of mine had planned the dive, and we slowly moved through the seagrass equipped with a GoPro and a small magnifying glass – the pictures will give you an idea what the bed looks like and showcases some of the cool species we found: lots of bigger crabs and hermit crabs, as well as pogge, pipefish, sea scorpions and gobies, and we even found a few seagrass blades with seeds in them. The seagrass bed here is comprised of the species of seagrass called Zostera marina, which generally grows subtidally and is bigger than the Zostera nolteii you will have seen if you’ve done any intertidal survey or survey training with MOC. Another subtidal bed of Z. marina was found on the Moray Coast last year which I’m excited to go and dive in some time soon.

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On a second occasion a few weeks later, I said I’d take a few friends to the seagrass bed on a Sunday morning, so we all rocked up, kitted up and got in. I took a bearing where I knew the seagrass bed should be, and in our SCUBA get-up we dived in. The visibility was next to nothing – and so we moved very slowly and close together on my bearing, trying to find the seagrass bed. Ten minutes passed, and then 12. I started to doubt myself, but then, there it was again – the familiar dark patch ahead of us – about 15 minutes in we finally found the bed. We had had a strong onshore wind for a few days leading up to our dive, and so silt had been stirred up into the water column. Once in the seagrass bed, however, the visibility increased a bit and it became easier to keep tabs on each other. Another benefit of seagrass beds is that they trap sediment, and their root system or rhizome helps to stabilise the sediment, increasing the water clarity somewhat (until you disturb the seabed with a little too enthusiastic fin-kick or otherwise) and helping to prevent erosion. Again, I was very excited to find lots of nudibranchs, snails, fish and crabs among the seagrass, and very glad I managed to get us to the bed.

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The seagrass bed is probably best dived just before a high tide and after a few days of calmer weather to ensure you’ve got a bit of water over your head, and the best possibility of some reasonable visibility. Go with pals and be sensible about it – go in reasonable weather and try to disturb the bed as little as possible – frog kick as you swim slowly through to not stir up too much sediment and to prevent damage to the seagrass blades. I know others who have snorkelled here, too, although I’ve not yet done that myself – if you do, you might be better off going on a low tide to shorten the distance you’ll need to swim, and following usual safety around water rules, including going with friends and swimming with an onshore wind. The distance to the bed – 150-ish meters – is a bit longer than you might think, so that’s also worth considering if going for a swim or snorkel. Other than that, I just hope others get to enjoy these magical moments in the seagrass bed, too! 

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To learn more about seagrass, I recommend chatting to your fellow MOC enthusiasts or having a look at Marine habitats - Seagrass beds. I am also always up for a chat about seagrass and marine life, and you’re welcome to contact me, too.

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