What an exciting discovery this drizzly morning on Basil Bay, Keswick Island - turtle tracks up the beach onto the recently reformed dunes, a nest and return tracks to the sea.
Exactly a year ago, I was devastated when we made the same discovery as the dune had been completely excavated away by Island Management and I knew there was no chance of the eggs surviving the total inundation by the high tide.
This year, I am full of hope that, maybe, some balance has been restored to nature and was thrilled to see the size of the tracks - clearly a very large turtle that has probably attempted to nest on Basil Bay for many, many years.
I also feel somewhat vilified that our persistent efforts of reporting the devastation of Basil Bay beach and highlighting this issue to various Government Departments has been to a positive end result. China Bloom's claim that no turtle's have nested on Keswick Island for over ten years is blown out of the water. Department of Environment Science reported that there was no evidence of turtle nesting in June 2019 - may I suggest a visit during the turtle nesting season to reassess this claim? On the plus side, let's hope that there has not been permanent damage to the nesting habitat and that turtles are protected on Basil Bay and Keswick Island for years to come.
A walk down to Connie Bay on Christmas Day confirmed reports that the signage advising the public about dune wildlife habitat and turtle breeding had been removed. It has been replaced with the Keswick Island, Keep Out sign. Perhaps the appropriate authorities can address this issue - replace the information sign and make sure that China Bloom's sign is not on Crown Land.
