Day 8 - Day Turtle!

After the turtle necropsy this morning we didn’t have enough time to go to sulphur springs so we’ll probably go tomorrow instead. I read some more of my book and cleaned the house waiting for the nest excavation at 3pm. However just before 3 we got a call on the hotline from a local fisherman that a female leatherback was on Levera beach so instead of going to excavate we all hopped in the car to attend the nesting female. We picked up Poppy en route, who was at Bathway beach and went to record data on the female at Levera. When we got there we walked the length of the beach to find her.  She is probably the biggest turtle I’ve seen yet, she was hugee. We recorded her tag numbers and Kate poured some water over her. Turtles normally nest at night as it’s cooler and they’re less likely to dry out, there also happens to be less predation but whether they know that or not is debated. She began digging her nest and we got ready to count her eggs but then her nest caved in and she abandoned the attempt. She started digging another one before giving up on that one and after a third attempt she gave up and returned to the water without laying her eggs. Kate expects she’ll be back tonight to lay them instead. I think she got too hot in the sun. Unfortunately we didn’t get to measure her as we do this  after a turtles lays normally.

Once she had returned to the sea we came back to the house, I showered and read my book some more before dinner. Poppy and Mandy made Veg Pizza, salad, Slaw and pumpkin mash (were chips but were a bit mushy so were turned into mash). The dough was a tiny bit undercooked but overall it was a yummy dinner. Now I’m going to read some more before bed 🛌.