As pictures go, I grant you there is nothing very remarkable about this one.
But it is what was going on just out of sight, down on the beach, hidden by that bit of bush on the seashore which makes it special.
For down there by the water were two figures who appeared to be searching the area in front of them, prodding a spot a with a stick and then digging down into the wet sand.
Now, this was seven in the morning, so I reckoned it was a tad early for sandcastles, added to which the two people were about my age, and like me had left building sandcastles way behind, as an activity for the beach.
Moreover, having dug down, they back filled the sand, and proceeded to cordon off the small patch with that red and white tape, used for a crime scene.
This they repeated on subsequent mornings and the evenings when their work attracted a of local interest.
But breakfast is breakfast and who was I to go and gawp.
That said one evening we encountered the two, at a stall beside the Klimatis Taverna, and finally curiosity got the better of me I asked them what they had been doing, to which they replied that they were there to “help the sea turtles of Kefalonia by creating and sharing information that allows tourists and locals alike to understand the treats that the sea turtles and their habitats face”.
So, they were down there on the beach checking the state of the buried sea turtle eggs, and if need be assisting the newly hatched ones out to the sea.
Gill and David were part of a team which also looked after sick seat turtles along with those which had been injured and supported scientific research, including the specific challenges faced by the animals during the tourist season.
“Kefalonia is home to two of the seven species that exist in the world …… and all are threatened with extinction …. And are protected by Greek and European law. Sea turtles are highly migratory, and they swim across the Mediterranean Sea to forage. They return to the same area, where they hatched in order to mate and lay their nests every two to three years. Within one nesting season a female may lay three to four nests with around 90 eggs in each clutch”. *
So, there you have it, a first for the blog ………… stories about nature rather than history.
All of which just leaves me to thank Gill and David, who now live on the island and whose passion are those sea turtles and say that the Society for the Sea Turtles of Kefalonia & Sea Turtles of Kefalonia, can be found on both facebook and twitter
Location; Kefalonia
Pictures; Kefalonia, 2019, from the collection of Balzano, and remaining images from Society for the Sea Turtles of Kefalonia & Sea Turtles of Kefalonia
*Society for the Sea Turtles of Kefalonia & Sea Turtles of Kefalonia
Labels: Cephalonia, Greece, Kefalonia
For down there by the water were two figures who appeared to be searching the area in front of them, prodding a spot a with a stick and then digging down into the wet sand.
Now, this was seven in the morning, so I reckoned it was a tad early for sandcastles, added to which the two people were about my age, and like me had left building sandcastles way behind, as an activity for the beach.
Moreover, having dug down, they back filled the sand, and proceeded to cordon off the small patch with that red and white tape, used for a crime scene.
This they repeated on subsequent mornings and the evenings when their work attracted a of local interest.
That said one evening we encountered the two, at a stall beside the Klimatis Taverna, and finally curiosity got the better of me I asked them what they had been doing, to which they replied that they were there to “help the sea turtles of Kefalonia by creating and sharing information that allows tourists and locals alike to understand the treats that the sea turtles and their habitats face”.
So, they were down there on the beach checking the state of the buried sea turtle eggs, and if need be assisting the newly hatched ones out to the sea.
“Kefalonia is home to two of the seven species that exist in the world …… and all are threatened with extinction …. And are protected by Greek and European law. Sea turtles are highly migratory, and they swim across the Mediterranean Sea to forage. They return to the same area, where they hatched in order to mate and lay their nests every two to three years. Within one nesting season a female may lay three to four nests with around 90 eggs in each clutch”. *
So, there you have it, a first for the blog ………… stories about nature rather than history.
All of which just leaves me to thank Gill and David, who now live on the island and whose passion are those sea turtles and say that the Society for the Sea Turtles of Kefalonia & Sea Turtles of Kefalonia, can be found on both facebook and twitter
Location; Kefalonia
Pictures; Kefalonia, 2019, from the collection of Balzano, and remaining images from Society for the Sea Turtles of Kefalonia & Sea Turtles of Kefalonia
*Society for the Sea Turtles of Kefalonia & Sea Turtles of Kefalonia
Labels: Cephalonia, Greece, Kefalonia
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