In the lead up to the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Project SIARC joined Team Wales and Y Môr a Ni alongside other Welsh Ocean Literacy Coalition Partners to celebrate communities and nature in the iconic Kings Baton Relay.
In a day all about the sea and people, Project SIARC celebrated two volunteers who have been working together with the project to gather vital data on Welsh sharks, skates and rays, and showcase the incredible Welsh marine environment. Hannah Lee-Williams reflects on the day.
With crystal clear waters and stunning sunshine, we couldn’t have asked for a better day to search for mermaid’s purses and celebrate all of the individuals, groups and partners involved across the breadth of work which makes up Project SIARC.
Found washed up on beaches (including the sandy shores of Porthdinllaen beach on the Llŷn Peninsula, Wales, where we stood enjoying the fair weather and good company) these strange-looking pouches made of a tough, leather-like material give us vital cues about life underneath the waves.
Despite the name, mermaid’s purses are in fact eggcases, and they tell us less about the spending habits of mythical creatures and more about the sharks and skates that lay them - which is why I started my week by looking for them as part of celebrations for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Working with local people to protect Welsh marine life
I’m part of the team here at ZSL working together with local communities in North Wales to co-create new opportunities to engage with sharks, skates and rays living in Welsh waters while we also build scientific knowledge about these species. As a partnership, Project SIARC work with fishers, coastal communities, schools, government and researchers to both deepen our understanding of Wales’ shark, skate and ray species and identify, and start to address, the barriers that prevent people from engaging with the coast and sea around them.
This looks like everything from working together with fishers across the country to build understanding of Critically Endangered sharks swimming off the Welsh coast, oceanographic data analysis with project partner Bangor University, running summer camps for young people with CDP Pwllheli FC to visiting schools to teach children about the wildlife they live alongside.
Our partner Swansea University have even brought 3D printers into classrooms so students can learn how to create their own model sharks.
Celebrating Project SIARC volunteers
As part of the run-up to the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which begins at the end of July in Glasgow, we joined the King’s Baton Relay - a 500-day relay across the globe to celebrate and connect the communities and cultures from across the world from the 74 nations taking part in the Games.
We’re part of the Welsh Ocean Literacy Coalition, led by Y Môr a Ni (or ‘The Sea and Us’) - a programme bringing together 65 organisations across Wales to grow people’s relationship with the sea and inspire them to help protect it. The initiative has been working with Team Wales since last year to bring together this event - which was one of five events hosted across Wales as part of The Kings’s Baton Relay celebrating communities, sea and coast.
It was truly incredible to join Team Wales and Y Môr a Ni as part of the Relay, celebrating the Welsh Coast and the individuals who make a difference every day. As a project, it was amazing to be in a position to nominate two individuals to bear the Kings Baton on behalf of Project SIARC, and we were incredibly excited when Bob and Teri said yes!
Bob and Teri have spent the last four years collecting empty eggcases from beaches around the Llŷn Peninsula and reporting their findings to the Great Eggcase Hunt, run by Project SIARC partner Shark Trust. When laid, each eggcase contain everything a shark or skate embryo need to grow and is unique to the species that lays it, and by identifying which species an empty eggcase belongs to, we can learn more about the sharks and skates living along the Welsh coastline.
As part of the King’s Baton Relay celebrations, Bob and Teri carried the Baton - joining other official Baton bearer such as Sir Chris Hoy - as they led an eggcase hunt along Porthdinllaen beach.
Joined by other partners of Y Môr a Ni, we scoured the strandline and found eggcases belonging to the nursehound, small-spotted catshark, spotted ray and thornback ray - it was a nice little haul and a great opportunity to show the variety of species local to North Wales to others who had gathered.
What is The Kings Baton Relay?
The King’s Baton Relay is a tradition that aims to celebrate, connect and excite communities from across the Commonwealth during the build-up to the Commonwealth Games.
This year’s relay is particularly special. For the first time ever, every Commonwealth nation and territory has received their own Baton to customise and decorate to represent their culture. Fittingly, the 2026 theme for Wales was ‘community’ and, the Welsh Baton was designed by renowned Welsh artist Nathan Wyburn, who embodied this theme by bringing together hundreds of photos of all the Team Wales athletes to create the Welsh flag.
Over the course of six days, the baton travelled the length of Wales - starting in the South at Barry Island and finishing on the Isle of Anglesey in the North - spotlighting the people and places that make Wales special along the way - including, of course, Bob and Teri.
This was such a special event to be a part of, and really speaks to the core of the work we do through Project SIARC - whether it’s through going into classrooms, joining fishers out on their boats or working together with communities - to increase our collective understanding of sharks, skates and rays and boost access to nature is central to celebrating and safeguarding the iconic wildlife that lives along the Welsh coastline.
For me, it felt quite surreal to be part of these celebrations and such a special moment in history. Since joining ZSL and Project SIARC in 2023 I have had the incredible privilege to work with so many amazing individuals as we work together to both celebrate and increase our understanding of sharks, skates and rays in Wales and ensure that everyone can be part of that in whatever way suits them.
To stand on the beach as the baton was passed from eggcase hunters, to Seagrass Ocean Rescue’s youth snorkelers to a BSAC boat, felt so special and like it truly represented the connectivity of everyone working locally towards the same goal - for a more accessible and understood ocean.
Get involved
You can find out more about different sharks, skates and rays, activities on offer from Project SIARC and partners on our website projectsiarc.com or prosiectsiarc.com.
Anyone can get involved with the Great Eggcase Hunt, by reporting your finds to the Shark Trust via eggcase.org, or by getting in touch with the North Wales Wildlife Trust for events in North Wales.
Project SIARC is co-led by ZSL and Natural Resources Wales and delivered in partnership with a network of delivery partners, affiliates and collaborators with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Welsh Government’s Nature Networks Fund, Ocean Tracking Network and Save Our Seas Foundation.
For more information about the Project SIARC partnership please visit the project website.
Founded in 1826, ZSL has spent two centuries working to restore wildlife and support ecosystems around the globe. Today our mission continues through conservation projects in more than 80 countries, alongside our two conservation zoos: London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo.