The past few weeks have seen some rather unusual sights of people appearing to 'bodyboard on dry land' along the coast of Walney. 

Cumbria Wildlife Trust revealed on Friday (October 25) that work is currently taking place to revive vast seagrass beds on Walney Channel near Barrow.

This is with the aim of not only bringing back precious marine ecosystems but to also help tackle the climate crisis.

Over the last century, the UK has lost 90% of all its seagrass beds with Morecambe Bay having lost around 70%.

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Recent surveys show that around 70ha (127 acres) of seagrass still remains in the Walney Channel - around the size of 63 football pitches - however there should be much more.

With funding provided by the Environment Agency via the Nature for Climate Fund Saltmarsh programme, the Trust has recruited volunteers to restore the habitat in the Walney Channel with.

Volunteers had to get 'up close' with the seagrass beds  (Image: Cumbria Wildlife Trust) In the video Amber Gould, Marine Officer at Cumbria Wildlife Trust, explained what the steps of strange process are.

"I'm here to tell you why it looks like we're trying to bodyboard on dry land," she said.

"So this is part of our project to restore seagrass beds in the Walney Channel around Barrow.

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"We've been working with volunteers over the last few weeks to collect seeds from healthy seagrass beds.

"Here's how that works - step one- you've got to dress the part."

The video then shows Ellena, a marine intern, with her woolly hat, wellies, overalls and 'can do attitude'.

Marine intern Ellena demonstrates the outfit required for the work (Image: Cumbria Wildlife Trust) The following shot then shows Amber, who continued: "Grab your bodyboard so that you can lie on the ground without squashing the seagrass.

"Step three - the seeds are pretty tiny, so you have to get quite close.

"Step four - pick the seeds up and pop them in a container that then gets put in a bigger container and stored until they're ready to be planted back out into the areas we're trying to bring seagrass back to. 

"And that leads us on to step five - create new areas of seagrass which will help capture carbon, protect our coastline from erosion and form a habitat for a whole host of species.

"All of this is still to come, so watch this space to see how we do."

The seagrass seeds are very tiny and hard to see (Image: Cumbria Wildlife Trust) Later this year, following more assessments of the area, staff, volunteers and Marine Champions will collect seagrass seed from a healthier site and start a series of different trials, to understand the best method of restoring seagrass in the Walney area.  

Seagrass is the only flowering plant that lives fully underwater, though it can be seen at low tide.

It provides a unique and rich habitat for crabs, anemones and fish, and foraging ground for waders and wildfowl.

Seagrass beds play such an important role in tackling climate change because carbon-rich sediment is stored around the plants and they also draw carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the seabed.

It has recently been suggested that seagrass beds may be responsible for roughly 10% to 18% of the total carbon storage in the ocean1, despite covering less than 0.1% of the global ocean floor2.