Marine Turtle Survey Highlights
VOLUNTEERS ALL SET TO WORK TURTLES
The volunteers have been out on the beach this week, having got through their exams, and all were eager to get some turtle action. Night walks were upped to two teams, allowing GVI to cover the beach for most of the night before the Morning Census team takes over at dawn. This maximises GVI’s presence on the beach, thus providing a greater deterrent to poachers. On night walk this
week Steph’s team were losing heart somewhat, approaching the end of their patrol without sight of a single turtle. But, true to Steph’s lucky track record they came upon a turtle just before heading home. On the team, Anja said: “The team heaved a huge sigh of relief after encountering a turtle after our 9th mile. We instantly jumped into action finally getting the chance to put all the techniques and we’d learnt into practice. Even after all of our preparation nothing quite prepares you for your first glimpse of a turtle and I felt privileged being able to touch her,”
EXCAVATIONS BEGIN - HATCHLING RESCUE
On excavation this week Steph, Leonie and Sam were able to save a final hatchling from a nest and see it safely down to sea - always a bonus and a pleasant change from opened unhatched eggs.
TAGGING ACTION
Fledgling patrol leader Jo finally got a chance to tag a turtle this week, in a fortuitous piece of good timing on night walk. Her PM2 team met Sara’ PM1 team
on the beach just as PM1 had found themselves a turtle. “Two minutes quicker and that turtle would have been ours, but at least I got to tag - with some
gratefully received guidance from Sara,” said Jo. The PM2 team also got to observe PM1 work the turtle - valuable experience for when their turn comes.
0 comments:
Post a Comment