Two large floating platforms covered in 500 native plants have been launched in a city harbour to help improve the water quality.

The two islands, which measure approximately 17m in length, were created at Bristol’s Festival of Nature and are the first of a number of platforms due to be floated in the water this year.

It is part of a £500,000 project to regenerate the Capricorn Quay area of Bristol Harbour.

Savita Willmott, CEO of the Natural History Consortium that runs the festival, said the ecosystems were made in response to the “challenges around our waterways”.