The sun was out for hundreds of visitors at our annual SeaFest celebration which took place on St Bees beach recently.

The ever-popular sand sculpture competition was a highlight of the day. This year’s winners created an imaginative sculpture of St Bees Head with a guillemot perched on top, to which they added a poem they’d written about this iconic coastal landscape. Other entries included an octopus, a whale and a sculpture dedicated to the RNLI. As well as the competition, families enjoyed activities from theatre performances and rock pooling to kayaking tasters and arts and crafts.

A new addition this year was a stunning sand mandala of a turtle created by Simon Wheatley, with the words ‘It’s one Irish Sea to me’. This was to mark the fact that SeaFest took place on Irish Sea Day (27 July), when activities were organised up and down the coast of the Irish Sea, to unite all the six nations that share the sea.

Georgia de Jong Cleyndert, Head of Marine at Cumbria Wildlife Trust said: “SeaFest is always a fun day out for all the family but it’s also a great chance to shout out about how wonderful and important this sea is, for wildlife and people. This year, we were delighted to be part of the much wider Irish Sea Day celebrations, along with friends, colleagues and communities in Lancashire, Cheshire, Wales, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the Isle of Man. SeaFest was just one in a chain of fun events surrounding the Irish Sea’s 17,763 square miles of water, to celebrate its wildlife and the communities that live and work around it. By working together, we can all make a difference to looking after this amazing sea!”

Georgia urges everyone to make a difference by sending us a WishFish to let us know how you'd like the Irish Sea to be protected. These wishes will help us and other  Wildlife Trusts to lobby for more protection for wildlife in the Irish Sea.