Positive ocean news: July '26 edition

This year marks a decade of the Marine Conservation Society and the Natural History Museum working together to inspire thousands of volunteers to become citizen scientists through the Big Seaweed Search.  

Seaweed is an indicator species, meaning it can help paint a picture of how seas are changing and responding to certain conditions. Thanks to records collected by people around the UK, the project has helped build a clearer picture of how our changing climate is affecting our coastlines. 

The citizen science activity can be carried out year-round and each survey will help protect our incredible ocean, one seaweed survey at a time. 

A brand new, free website bringing together the many species of nudibranchs found around the UK has been launched. Created by Ben Wilkie, an ecologist from Devon, the UK Nudibranch Atlas includes photos, distribution maps and up-to-date taxonomy for 159 different species. 

Ben said, “After joining a Coastwise rockpooling session and later going nudibranch spotting at Croyde with a local ranger, I realised there wasn't a simple resource for beginners to discover the amazing biodiversity of UK sea slugs and other marine gastropods. So, I decided to build one."  

The website is populated using distribution data from publicly available biodiversity datasets and will be updated over time. 

So far, the group – called While We Still Can – has got commitment from 85% of the village’s businesses, resulting in 17 refill stations – one of which is open 24/7.  The campaign has received support from brands, including reusable water bottle company Chilly’s and water filter manufacturer Doulton. 

Imogen, 14, who leads the campaign hopes that Porlock will be the first place in the UK to remove all plastic water bottles from its shelves. In 2025, Beachwatch volunteers recorded plastic bottles on 69% of UK & Channel Island beaches, highlighting the importance of tackling this prevalent type of litter.

There were around 80 puffins nesting on this stretch of coast in the 1950s, but the population has steadily declined, leading to fears of the colony’s extinction. This summer brought some good news, however. Six adult puffins were recording bringing food to two nesting locations from April, with the puffling finally observed in July. 

Marine ornithologist Richard Caldow is one of the many welcoming the sight. He said, “tells us that Purbeck puffins can still lay fertile eggs, hatch them and, at least in some years, find enough food to rear a chick and escape the attention of predators.” 

The puffling has since fledged and will hopefully, in time, have pufflings of its own.