Seaweed’s wild beauty

Walk along the beach at Lyme Regis in Dorset and there, swirling in the tiny pits of watery sand or tethered and draped on a rock, will be seaweeds large and small, strands glistening salty and wet or frizzling in the sun.

The UK has more than 650 species of seaweed, many found on the rocky shores of the south-west of the country. And yet, despite this abundance and diversity, these incredible underwater plants have barely attracted the attention they deserve. Until recently. Thanks to Melanie Molesworth and Julia Bird, we are appreciating