Turtles!!!!!
Last night was my first night survey 😀 I was incredibly excited as Tom, Mandy, Poppy Lawson and I pulled into Levera just before 8pm. We set up our sleeping bags in the beach hut before Tom, Poppy and I took the first shift.
We had only made it a short distance patrolling the beach when we saw the first female! It was extraordinary to see her pulling herself around in the sand trying to find a spot to nest. She had emerged in a less preferable nesting sight and Tom told us if she laid her eggs that close to the roots and vegetation we’d have to relocate the eggs. We checked her flipper tags and she had a recent tag number which means she was probably new nesting this season and so not very experienced. She spent a long time body putting and moving on, unable to find a spot she liked so eventually she returned to the sea without laying.
We carried on our patrol of the beach but it wasn’t long before we came across another female. This time she was already digging her nest. We scanned her Pit tag and noted her flipper tag numbers while she did this. I was given the job of counting the eggs, so wore a disposable glove and once she finished digging poppy held her back flipper out of the way whilst I held my hand under her tail. This allowed me to feel the eggs as the entered the nest to count them with a clicker. She laid 107 eggs and 16 yolk less which are smaller and not much is known about why they lay them but they tend to be at the end of her laying. Once she was done she began her camouflaging process of covering the nest up. We wrote her tag numbers and the date on a lollipop stick and stuck it in the nest as she covered it, along with a rope with a number. We then used a measuring tape to measure her carapace. Taking the length of her central ridge on her back (from where shell meets the neck to the caudal point) and then the widest part of her shell. We then watched her for a bit before continuing the patrol.
We reached the end of the beach with no other turtles in sight so walked back the other way to patrol back to the hut. On our way back we found another female digging her nest. Watching them dig is amazing, their back flipper are so dexterous, scooping sand perfectly out. Once she was done Poppy and I swapped roles so she was counting and I held the back flipper out of the way, it was amazing to feel the strength of the muscles in her flippers. It was quite hard to hold them back. This female laid less eggs, 70 something I think and 12 yolk less. She took longer to lay though. Once she was finished we measured her etc.
We didn’t see any more on our way back to the hut. We swapped with Lawson and Mandy and Tom, Poppy and I had about an hour or twos sleep before they returned. I think they saw 2 or 3 turtles as well. We then patrolled the beach, waited half an hour at one end and then patrolled back but didn’t see any more. Mandy and Lawson then went out again leaving us to get some more sleep. We got up at half 5 to walk back along the beach, we raked over any tracks and body pits to stop poachers finding the nests. We also carried out triangulation measurements of the nest, how far from two markers and veg and storm mark, then removing the marker ropes.
We then arrived back at the house at 7am 😀
We had only made it a short distance patrolling the beach when we saw the first female! It was extraordinary to see her pulling herself around in the sand trying to find a spot to nest. She had emerged in a less preferable nesting sight and Tom told us if she laid her eggs that close to the roots and vegetation we’d have to relocate the eggs. We checked her flipper tags and she had a recent tag number which means she was probably new nesting this season and so not very experienced. She spent a long time body putting and moving on, unable to find a spot she liked so eventually she returned to the sea without laying.
We carried on our patrol of the beach but it wasn’t long before we came across another female. This time she was already digging her nest. We scanned her Pit tag and noted her flipper tag numbers while she did this. I was given the job of counting the eggs, so wore a disposable glove and once she finished digging poppy held her back flipper out of the way whilst I held my hand under her tail. This allowed me to feel the eggs as the entered the nest to count them with a clicker. She laid 107 eggs and 16 yolk less which are smaller and not much is known about why they lay them but they tend to be at the end of her laying. Once she was done she began her camouflaging process of covering the nest up. We wrote her tag numbers and the date on a lollipop stick and stuck it in the nest as she covered it, along with a rope with a number. We then used a measuring tape to measure her carapace. Taking the length of her central ridge on her back (from where shell meets the neck to the caudal point) and then the widest part of her shell. We then watched her for a bit before continuing the patrol.
We reached the end of the beach with no other turtles in sight so walked back the other way to patrol back to the hut. On our way back we found another female digging her nest. Watching them dig is amazing, their back flipper are so dexterous, scooping sand perfectly out. Once she was done Poppy and I swapped roles so she was counting and I held the back flipper out of the way, it was amazing to feel the strength of the muscles in her flippers. It was quite hard to hold them back. This female laid less eggs, 70 something I think and 12 yolk less. She took longer to lay though. Once she was finished we measured her etc.
We didn’t see any more on our way back to the hut. We swapped with Lawson and Mandy and Tom, Poppy and I had about an hour or twos sleep before they returned. I think they saw 2 or 3 turtles as well. We then patrolled the beach, waited half an hour at one end and then patrolled back but didn’t see any more. Mandy and Lawson then went out again leaving us to get some more sleep. We got up at half 5 to walk back along the beach, we raked over any tracks and body pits to stop poachers finding the nests. We also carried out triangulation measurements of the nest, how far from two markers and veg and storm mark, then removing the marker ropes.
We then arrived back at the house at 7am 😀
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