Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Ta-Ta For Now (Rachel's last blog post)


So this last week has been a great one in terms of visits and wildlife. Our volunteers Maurits and Nadia only stayed with us for a few days, but I’m happy to say that their time here was well spent! The two of them conducted bird surveys and wetland mapping, as well as decorating the inside of the centre.

Nadia and Maurits starting our new visitors log
In addition, the two of them adopted a Yellow-Bellied Mud Turtle they’ve now named “Rachel”. This means that we now have 3 terrapins that have been adopted. Two weeks ago, a father and son, Mark and Oscar, also adopted Stumpy and Project. All of our foster parents now live on our Proud Parents Wall, as pictured below.

Our banyan tree of Proud Parents (painted by Nadia)
On Monday, the entire wetland was flooded due to heavy rain all throughout the weekend. Even some of the boardwalk was covered!

Boardwalk next to one of the hotel's restaurants was flooded
Fortunately, some animals seemed to like the wet weather. On our way to turtle patrol, Imogen and I managed to see two Seychelles Kestrels mating!

Our loving couple
Today, we received another group from the SOSF Marine Explorers Program. The kids had another wander through the wetland, during which they spotted several Green-Backed Herons and one group was lucky enough to see a terrapin!

The kids looking for terrapins in the water
Abbi and Fred trying to take a picture of a Green-Backed Heron
Unfortunately, today is my last day working for MCSS – I’m moving to England in September to my Masters Degree. I’ve had lots of fun her and I’ve greatly appreciated the opportunity. If you are Seychellois and interested in the possibility of working for MCSS, please contact info@mcss.sc and look out in the local newspapers for the job advertisements!