Of Storms and Turtles

I remember the excitement as a child when I had the chance to see a live Leatherback Turtle that had been washed up on the shore at Cadgwith Cove in Cornwall. Local fishermen did their best to rescue it, but I'm not sure that the outcome was successful. 

More recently in 2010, as faithful followers may remember, I was thrilled to see a Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) swimming a few metres from the shore near Pylos in the Peloponnese. Do take a moment to read this fine turtle poem, The Lost Egg of Caretta caretta, by Lynn Woollacott on the Poetry Society pages.

Sea turtle near Pylos, Greece, 2010

I blogged a few days ago about the dubious storm sighting of a Penguin (probably a Guillemot) on the shore at Polkerris in Cornwall. And now, it seems, that two dead turtles have recently been found in Sussex. The one at Splash Point, Worthing, appears to have been a Loggerhead and was discovered a few days before Christmas. You can read about it here on Steve Savage's blog. The more recent find (17 February) was a Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle, the world's rarest sea turtle species, and it was found at Saltdean. There are photos over at The Nature Quest blog and a short news report from The Argus here.

A second Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle was discovered on a beach I know well, Cefn Sidan Sands, near Llanelli in South Wales in mid-January 2014. These turtles from the Gulf of Mexico were close to extinction in the 1980s.

And if you encounter any marine turtles - alive or dead - on our UK beaches, do report them to the Marine Conservation Society.