DORSET'S seahorses have been highlighted alongside a number of marine species as making a resurgence during 2018, according to the country's Wildlife Trusts.

Little terns and crayfish are also among the creatures making a comeback with the help of conservation action around the UK's coasts, the Trusts have found.

At Studland and in Poole Harbour, Dorset Wildlife Trust has been working with local fishermen, who have both Marine Stewardship Council and Responsible Fishing Scheme accreditation for sustainable management of the sea, which is helping the seahorses.

However, The Seahorse Trust has recorded just one dead Spiny Seahorse on Studland Beach this year.

Seahorse Trust Director Neil Garrick-Maidment says drastic action is still needed to reverse damage to their sea grass habitat at Studland Bay.

Nationally it has also been a good year for sightings of marine wildlife as thousands of volunteers helped survey shores around the country to gather information and monitor marine protected areas, a review of the year by the Trusts has found.

Dr Lissa Batey, senior living seas officer at The Wildlife Trusts, said: "This review of sightings and action from across the UK has given a glimpse, a mere taster, of the wonders of our marine wildlife - delightful species that everyone has the opportunity to encounter and learn more about.

"But it has also shown us the problems that remain and the challenges that our sea life faces.

"It is not too late. We are already seeing recovery in some of our marine protected areas, but we don't yet have a fully functioning network of nature reserves at sea, where wildlife has the opportunity to thrive.

"That's why we are looking forward to the third designation of marine conservation zones in 2019 - with these we would have the potential to reverse current marine wildlife declines."

The Trust is calling for statutory protection of the important habitat for species from juvenile fish to stalked jellyfish.

During other surveys around the coasts, species with evocative names were recorded from the acorn barnacle to peppery furrow shells and by-the-wind sailors, as well as hedgehog sponges, a conger eel and baby cuttlefish.

Millions of marine animals including crabs, starfish, mussels and lobsters were washed up on the east coast after stormy weather in the spring, with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust working with fishermen to rescue lobsters that were still alive among the devastation.

And several rarely seen boar fish, a Sowerby's beaked whale and a juvenile basking shark were all found dead on beaches around the country.