January 2023 Ascension Highlights!

January has been a very busy month! 

The week of the 16th January we hit hitting over 100 tracks in one night meaning over 50 turtles made their way onto the beach that night with over 40 nests counted for that night. We also started turtle strandings checks as we had a couple incidences of turtles being found stuck in rockpools etc. after trying to return to the sea after nesting and getting stuck. So on the 13th January we started our official stranding checks and had two turtle strandings on the first day! 

The morning of the 19th January and 20th January also brought our first morning turtles or ‘dawnies’ as some people call them – which means turtles who are still finishing the nesting process when we arrive to count and rake. On the 19th Jan I was counting tracks at Pan Am whilst Anna and Abi were counting and raking nests and I heard sand being flicked and the heavy sighing of a sea turtle and looked up to see a turtle camouflaging her nest. I sat with her whilst she camouflaged and descended back to the sea and it was a very surreal feeling, a peaceful shared moment just the turtle and I, before I carried on counting tracks. 

On the 23rd January we held our first turtle tour of the season for the Governor and administrator – Toby led the talk with Abi whilst Anna and I walked the beach and found the turtles, determined what stage of nesting they were in and radioed Toby when we found a laying turtle. This is because turtles are easily disturbed when nesting and it’s a legal offense to disturb an adult turtle on a nature reserve beach. So to avoid lots of people walking on the beach we can carefully determine the stage the turtle is at from a distance and only invite people up to watch when she is laying, as they release a hormone called Oxytocin when they begin to lay eggs to aid pain relief, but it also puts the turtles in a trance like state that is very hard to disturb her in until she begins covering and camouflaging. 

The 23rd January also marked the beginning of our first week of night work. Each month we will have a week of night work where we deploy 5 data loggers at the three monitored nesting beaches. This was definitely my favourite week since being here so far 😊 

Yesterday the Richard James Shipping vessel arrived! I got a few parcels from home with some snacks, photos and clothes etc. that I hadn’t managed to fit in my suitcase, and it was really exciting to receive something from the outside world! 

Anna and I also officially joined Sea Rescue as volunteers this month, joining Port Crew. This means we have training session every third Saturday and are on call for a week every third week in case a rescue crew is needed on the sea or land. We’re excited to get trained up and involved in more of the sea rescue activities!