World Turtle Day

With no blip in sight I googled the date to see if there was anything interesting happening, and it turns out to be World Turtle Day.

Well before the Flumlet's arranging all my animals on the floor, necessitating constant replenishment of novelties, I bought this little chap, who was made in Greece as a keyring, to celebrate an evening in Northern Cyprus of turtle-watching This was a guided, but furtive, visit where our cars assembled some distance away and, on command, turned off headlights and followed the guide to the beach in question. Having dismounted we tiptoed onto the sand and settled down to watch  Loggerhead turtles emerge from the sea. We were particularly lucky as our visit coincided with that of a group of officials of some sort who, against all advice, were rather noisy but who became tired of waiting for the animals to arrive so departed, leaving just a few of us to lay quietly on the sand, watching the stars until rewarded with a perfect display of this natural process.

As we watched in silence, the turtles lumbered up the sand and, with rear flippers, dug a hole and laid their eggs the size of table-tennis balls, before sweeping sand over them and making their way back to swim away, leaving their progeny to their fate. We were told that some of these nests were too close to the waterline and, during daylight, would be dug up, the eggs removed, and 'replanted' further up the beach.

So many wonderful memories of that holiday are held in this little wooden turtle.