Latest update from our turtle teams in Greece

Here are some highlights of what our Turtle Conservation volunteers in Greece have been up to over the last month: 

The Field station A team have been very busy over the last few weeks with the nesting season now in full swing. We are delighted that they are way ahead of the past few years, with the nest count now at 70 nests, over 25 nests more than this time last year! 

The team have been involved in several rescues over the past month. On Friday evening, sadly a female was spotted from the bridge by the harbour with a fishing net wrapped around her neck and both front flippers. Luckily the team were able to remove the fishing net immediately and she was healthy enough to be released straight back into the water. This turtle was untagged, so the team where able to tag her to be able to monitor her in the future. The team named her Louisa and they hope to see her in safely in harbour in the future! 

The last couple of weeks have also been busy at Field station B and they have now reached a total of 167 emergencies (turtles coming to the beach in the night to find a place where they want to lay their eggs). 26 new nests have been located and protected during morning surveys throughout June, bringing the total protected nest count across the Field Station B beaches to 49!

Six new nesting female turtles have been tagged on Megas Lakkos beach,during night surveys over the past 2 weeks. Also 4 turtles who had previously been observed nesting this season, were seen again. This included Danielle, who has already laid her third clutch of the season. We look forward to potentially seeing her lay her fourth clutch next week!

A newly tagged turtle, first seen last week and named Blitz, was crowned as the second smallest turtle to have ever been recorded on a night survey. Blitz was spotted just before sunrise, nesting only 5m from the sea. As the nest was so close to the sea it was danger of being flooded, so it was relocated higher up the beach to a safer location a few hours after it was laid.

10 other nests also needed to be relocated in these past 2 weeks, for a variety of reasons including the eggs being laid too close to sea, in clay, in heavily rooted sand dunes or at threat of being disturbed. 

We can't wait to hear more from the team in Greece about the baby turtles hatching from their nests and hopefully even more nesting turtles over the next few months! 

If you would like to join the team in Greece then head over to our Turtle Conservation in Greece project page to find out how!