Argyll Hope Spot

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Argyll Hope Spot

The first Hope Spot in mainland UK https://linktr.ee/ArgyllHopeSpot

17/06/2026

A bit of fun! 🦭🐬 What's your marine artist birth month? Whimsical edition this time!

16/06/2026

We love to see (sea?) it!

15/06/2026

On a Tuesday evening we joined Loch Leven Swimmers and Loch Leven Sea Savers in beautiful Bishop's Bay for an evening snorkel. The swimmers were supported by Lyndsay from Seatrek Scotland who led the snorkel and made sure everyone was safe and comfortable. This project is part of an ongoing series for us; helping folks who already love the sea to better get to know the habitats and species that live in it by giving snorkelling a go.

They were able to swim out to a lovely pink maerl bed and saw a huge common starfish. They reported seeing lots of plankton and zooplankton; the basis of any marine food web so this is great news!

It was a busy week in Loch Leven; that Monday there was a swim to celebrate the achievement of bathing water status for the groups usual swimming site in Ballachulish.

Loch Leven Sea Savers seasavers are a Citizen Science Group for all around Loch Leven, Lochaber, West Coast of Scotland. Give them a follow to see what they do next and to get involved!

14/06/2026

Which art form are you?
Last year we ran a marine arts workshop for . We challenged participants to come up with a marine arts project, wearing a different hat to their normal, assigned by birth month!
We thought we'd share these here. If you like, try coming up with your own marine arts project wearing your assigned hat.

11/06/2026

We had a few concerned comments on a post featuring sargassum recently. That’s because it’s an invasive seaweed! It was first recorded in the UK on the Isle of White in 1971. When held up, it resembles a laundry line.

It’s not great to find this algae as it tends to be a nuisance to other species and humans alike - blocking out light, getting stuck in propellers, growing and colonising spaces quickly and becoming fierce and abrasive competition. It’s not even good to eat this seaweed.

So shouldn’t we just remove it?

Well there’s a great level of care needed when removing sargassum. Because it can regenerate from a small piece, sometimes big removal efforts have led to more dense and vigorous regrowth!

In this instance, it’s recommended that if you see it, do think about whether you can safely remove it (including the holdfast, the root like part where it attaches). Hand removal might actually be the best way to go.

If you’ve done this or even if you’re just in amongst it in a place with sargassum, make sure you also wash and dry any kit afterwards and ensure biosecurity. Clean, check, dry!

It’s a good idea to designate a person in your group to report it. Please share details of Sargassum via iRecord.
Any new invasive non-native species should be reported to NatureScot ([email protected]) and Marine Directorate ([email protected]). This should include grid coordinates when possible.

09/06/2026

Lovely 🌊

08/06/2026

World Oceans day in the Argyll Coast and Islands Hope Spot.

We’re a community of communities that came together to celebrate the sea. And there are communities above the water and below!

There’s always far more than you might ever notice going on in all the pockets of the world. When you find out about some of it, we hope it can challenge a sense of doom and gloom.

The waters, islands, peninsulas and lochs are not dangerous, dirty, scary and empty places for exploitation. Instead we spread awe, respect and love.

03/06/2026

This weekend we’re so delighted to see the launch of the Carna Coast and Communities!

Celebrate land, sea and people in the ever changing environment of Loch Sunart from the 6th to the 12th June!

There’s a range of exciting events on, in water and on the land.

Email [email protected] to book!

02/06/2026

What goes in to making a Hope Spot come to life?

This past weekend, we gathered all the Hope Spot champion organisations together meeting in fields by the sea, and in a cosy stone walled room. The Hope Spot is a shared project between ocean conservation organisations across the area. We’re a community that uses the Hope Spot to come together and share the explosive joy and positivity around the seas in this part of Scotland. Projects like this take dedicated care and substantial sustained effort and thoughtfulness, year after year. But many hands make light work.

While we were all travelling home, orca whales were swimming in the Hope Spot in Loch Linnhe, travelling through to feed their calves (and we know loads of other unseen things happened too).

Our champions attending were from Friends of the Sound of Jura, caolas, CROMACH, MacColl Loch Linnhe, Carna Coast and Communities and also the Loch Leven Sea Savers who stopped by.

Fauna & Flora International ran this session with us and the William Grant Foundation supported it.

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Ardfern

Website

https://www.argyllhopespot.scot/

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