A team from the Royal Navy has helped give the Solent’s oyster population a boost by releasing a fresh batch of European flat oysters into the River Hamble

Normally tasked with dealing with unexploded bombs and mines, divers from Bravo Diving Unit 2 carefully hand-placed the oysters on an artificial reef to encourage the species’ return to the area.

The initiative continues a broader conservation effort to restore European flat oysters, which were common in the Solent until the 1980s.