The Deep is proud to welcome back the Super Seagrass Festival this autumn, now in its fourth year, in partnership with the Wilder Humber seascape restoration programme.
Wilder Humber – a pioneering collaboration between Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Orsted – is on a mission to restore 40 hectares of lost biodiversity to the Humber estuary through an ambitious programme of habitat restoration. The project works across seagrass, sand dune, saltmarsh, and native oyster recovery to deliver wide-ranging benefits for both nature and people.
This year’s festival takes place on 11th and 12th October 2025. Visitors to The Deep will be invited to create their own seed bag, learning the method used by the team to restore seagrass in the Humber estuary. Each bag planted in the estuary contains seagrass seeds secured with sediment, giving them the best chance to take root in the estuary’s challenging conditions.
In addition to hands-on seed bag making, The Deep’s Guides will run interactive “Super Seagrass” workshops at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm. These sessions give families the chance to explore the vital role seagrass plays in marine ecosystems, from capturing carbon and cleaning water to protecting coasts and supporting fish nurseries.
The Humber Estuary was once home to extensive seagrass meadows, with historic records of dwarf seagrass stretching across Spurn Point and the coastline from Grimsby to Cleethorpes. Industrialisation, disease, pollution, and coastal squeeze led to the collapse of these ecosystems by the late 20th century. Today, with restoration underway, hope is returning.
Seagrass is the ocean’s only flowering plant and a powerhouse of carbon capture, storing it up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests. It shields coastlines from erosion, improves water quality, and provides vital nursery habitat for species such as bass, sand eel, and the endangered European eel. It also supports migratory birds including Brent geese.
As part of the wider restoration effort, the Wilder Humber team is trialling a range of new planting techniques in the estuary. Alongside the classic hessian seed bags, they are testing seed pillows (containing up to 100 germinated seeds), direct seed injection (planting seeds mixed with sediment directly into mudflats), and core transplanting (moving plugs of healthy seagrass into bare ground). Each method is carefully monitored to understand what works best in the Humber’s shifting, muddy environment. By refining their techniques, the team hopes to scale up restoration and secure long-term success for seagrass meadows in the estuary.
Andy van der Schatte Olivier, Marine Programme Manager at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said: “We’re starting to see wildlife returning to the Humber’s recovering seagrass meadows, from fish darting among the shoots to visiting wading birds. But to secure their future, we need both innovation and community support. By trialling new planting methods and involving the public in restoration, we’re building the knowledge and momentum needed to bring these habitats back at scale.”
Katy Duke, Chief Executive Officer at The Deep, added: “At The Deep, our mission is to protect the marine environment, and seagrass is one of our most powerful natural allies. Through the Wilder Humber project, the fantastic Yorkshire Wildlife Trust team and volunteers are working to restore this vital habitat right here in the Humber estuary, helping to improve water quality and combat climate change. This event is a great opportunity to learn more and get involved. Together, we can help bring the estuary back to life.”