Kids, terrapins and hexacopters

Perseverance school came in yesterday, and the children were fantastic. We brought them around the farm and the centre, where they met the terrapins and Vanessa gave them a presentation on turtles. After their lunch, we played a game to get the kids to understand more about turtle nesting behaviour and the effort it takes. Half of them threw themselves into the sand to imitate turtles coming up onto the beach and dug their nests with their feet and the other half were in charge of making little sand-balls (the turtle eggs). Overall I think it was a massive success, the kids had loads of fun and so did we!

Other than school visits, we’ve had two terrapins be brought to the centre as hotel staff saw them on the side of the road. Both were sub-adult Black Mud Turtles coming from the same area. Thanks to the rain we’ve been getting in the mornings this week, the terrapins seem a lot more active, including the ones at the centre.

Speaking of the centre, I’m sad to report that the tropicbird chick we were supposed to collect on Monday died on Sunday evening. Tropicbird chicks (any chick really) are very fragile and in the end it refused to eat. But in happier news, Project is continuing to gain weight and he’s beginning to get dark patterns on his plastron much like a Black Mud Turtle. He’s also becoming increasingly curious and pokes his head out of the water whenever we pass by, begging for food.

We managed to get the hexacopter up yesterday, much to our delight! Soon Vanessa will be training all of us to use the drones, which will facilitate us with turtle patrol and mapping the wetland.

Read next week’s blog to find out more about Project and the other terrapins and to hear from Irma, our volunteer!

RELEASE

Fatso's last weigh in

On Monday we released two of our black mud terrapins, Fatso and Sharky, back into the wetland.

Fatso heading off

 After giving both of them a quick check over and a final weighing they were taken back down to their capture site and released.

Sharky disappears into the grass

We have now completed all our trapping for the terrapins. The next step is to begin looking at the captures of terrapins and make an estimate of how many animals are living within the Intendance wetland.

Other happenings..

Last weekend we (Rachel and I) had the opportunity to visit Bird Island, while there we got some practice at assisting birds when we stumbled across a lesser noddy that was unable to fly. Lucky for us it was simply a case of removing some twigs that had become caught in the feathers, and it took off happily into the night.   

The children trying to identify birds during a walk through the wetland

Today we were visited by a class from the International School of Seychelles. They were shown around the farm and wetland area then visited the Wildlife Centre for a brief presentation as part of their current geography course. In the wetland small teams were involved in a competition to spot as many animals as possible. At the end of their visit the class was presented with one of our animal and bird identification slates and also a turtle identification poster for their class room.

Presentation with International School of Seychelles in the Wildlife Centre

A new volunteer joined us today, Irma, she will be learning about our work (and other projects run  by MCSS) and how to do it before starting an Environmental Science course at Uni Sey in September. We hope to be seeing a lot more of her over the next few months.

EARTH DAY

Since 1970 Every year the 22^nd April is celebrated as Earth Day – Events are held in more than 192 countries. The mission is to broaden, diversify and activate the environmental movement worldwide, through a combination of education, public policy, and consumer campaigns 

(http://www.earthday.org/).

To celebrate this event we will be releasing two of our terrapins that are doing very well. Fatso and Sharky have both put on weight and are no longer moulting so we feel they are ready to go back into the wetland.

This week Vanessa has also started to join us a few days a week to help with the terrapins and turtle monitoring. On Tuesday she helped with setting and retrieving the traps and managed to get her first terrapin. She has also started to train us in the use of the drones.

Vanessa with her first terrapin- a juvenile Black Mud.

Last week we added 3 new sites to our terrapin trapping and have had some great catches. Our first juvenile animal (less than 10cm) and another small adult. We have already recaptured the juvenile and caught another adult – fantastic for our population estimates.

The Banyan tree float under construction

There is a lot of action around the hotel at the moment as they will be participating in the Carnival in Victoria this coming weekend. The float is being prepared and the staff are out practicing their dancing routines. In town there are lots of decorations up- it is looking like a colourful, musical weekend.

 

Carnival colour

As some of the schools are on holiday at the moment we have had a few parents and children come to see us at the centre. 

Children and parents getting some information about the terrapins

We will be posting photos tomorrow of the release of Sharky and Fatso so stay tuned.

Camera, set, action

Since the opening things have been getting quieter. We are still checking hawksbill nests and now have only 5 left to dig up, the last one is due to hatch on the 27^th April. 

Last week we found two unhatched eggs in one nest with perfectly formed embryos- unfortunately something stopped development and they didnt make it. 

The terrapins in the tanks are doing well, Little Project our hatchling, has grown several mm in the last few weeks and is steadily putting on weight. It is also starting to look like a yellow-bellied terrapin hatchling which is fantastic news as this is the rarer of the 2 species. Fatso is living up to her name and getting attached to the reptile food and we also found evidence that Stumpy and Haze are enjoying snails. All have also put on weight since the last weighing sessions; positive signs that they are doing well.

Weighing and measuring terrapins

Last Friday we were joined by a film crew from our main funders UNDP-GEF to record what we do at the centre and with the hotel. They were with us to record the monthly weighing and measuring of all the terrapins and also some beach patrol work. This documentary will be used by them to increase awareness about the work they do and what is possible, on both a regional and international level.

Recording a voice-over for the documentary

In March Vanessa, otherwise known as 'Turtle Lady', attended training for some new equipment, 2 drones. These will be used for beach monitoring, anti-poaching and whale shark spotting amongst other things. The new toys arrived recently so we got to watch them being setup for a first flight in Seychelles. 

The long range drone (plane)

Hexacopter  - both have cameras attached for recording sightings

As well as having hotel guests coming to see the centre and surrounding garden, over the next few weeks we will be joined by a number of schools and youth groups who wish to discover more about the centre and the wetlands. Word is spreading and we hope it continues so that children can come and learn about, and appreciate these amazingly diverse ecosystems.

WE ARE OPEN

There has been much sweat and many blisters over the last week or so while we have been making sure the outside of the centre was presentable. This included moving 10 tonnes of gravel in and around the terrapin and turtle treatment tanks. 

The first of the gravel arriving and the team starting to level with sand and spread out the gravel

In addition, all the paintings had been completed inside along with the posters and other displays.  

Educational displays in the main room 

Finally, yesterday, 31^st March, was the Wildlife Conservation and Rehabilitation Centre’s official opening. 

We were joined by the Minister of Environment, hotel management, Vet services, University of Seychelles, a number of people from other conservation NGOs, local newspaper and TV reporters and representatives of many of the sponsors and supporters. Everything went smoothly and the rain held off until everyone had left.

Minister of Environment cutting the ribbon with the General Manager of Banyan Tree and Chairman of MCSS.

The day before the opening turned into a very hectic day. As not only did we have all the last minute preparation to do for the centre opening, we also had a school group come to learn about wetlands and sustainable living. Two classes (about 50 children) from the International School spent the morning walking through the wetland with us, getting a talk about the terrapins in the centre before finally being given a tour of the hotel vegetable garden. On the same day we had a journalist from National Geographic Traveller Magazine join us for several hours to visit the centre and participate in a beach patrol to get an idea of our work.

After 5 months of trapping for terrapins Tuesday morning saw us removing the traps for the last time as we completed the last of 6 cycles through our trapping sites (48 sites).

So the next few weeks will be continuing with the final turtle nest monitoring, putting together the data for the terrapins and hopefully welcoming people to the centre. Finally, a massive THANK YOU to all those who have supported the project (and us) in so many ways over the last few months. 

Unfortunately we are still slightly short of funds for the vital portable x-ray machine so any useful contacts and donations are still more than welcome. In the next post we will be telling you different ways you can support the centre. 

March Blur

These last two weeks have passed by in a blur. The centre has an official opening date – March 31^st! As a result we’ve been digging soil to fill up the tanks and to level the rehabilitation area.

Additionally, painting inside the centre has been completed and posters have finalised and for the most part been displayed in their appropriate places.

Last week was exhilarating and full of surprises, after a month of no terrapins we recaptured one of our first Black Mud Turtles and a security guard brought us another one later on in the day. On top of that, on Thursday we pulled out a trap to find no one, but TWO Yellow-Bellied Mud Turtles! This was the first Yellow-Bellied capture we’ve had in three months, and we are happy to report that both individuals had never been captured before.

One of the individuals was very large, similar in size to our very own Stumpy and we think he is a male, our first one so far. However, despite the similar size, the terrapin was over 50g lighter than Stumpy and his shell is concave so we think he could be underweight. Haze (as he has now been named due to his distinctive colouring) has been kept for observation.

Project, our baby terrapin is doing well and has been moved to a larger tank all by himself. Despite a scratch on his head and missing 3 claws he is feeding well and managing to catch the smaller fish in his tank. This gives us great hopes for his survival after his eventual release into the wetland.

Turtle season has come to a close and activity has quietened down. We’re only waiting on a few more nests to hatch and then Turtle Patrol here will be less frequent. Read our blog next week to find out about last-minute preparations for the centre opening!

Training, Arrivals and Departures

Dr Johanna (Wildlife Vets International) returned from the other islands and spent another day with us and the local Vet Services giving training on the first aid and treatment of sick and injured birds and reptiles. Very informative and a day full of hands on practice. Many thanks to WVI and Johanna for the assistance, bring us so much equipment and many entertaining wildlife vet stories.

Rachel and Vanessa get hands on practice giving injections to a dead egret chick under the watchful eyes of Dr Johanna

Explainging how to examine an Aldabran tortoise 

Our usual work continues but we have had a quiet week or so in terms of turtle activity but we have dug up a few nests. One contained a hatchling just emerging from the shell – called pipping – so we watched it break free and head down to the water along with two other clutch mates.

Hawksbill turtle hatchling breaking free

Over the last weekend we had unusually hide tides and big waves resulting in a lot of beach erosion. For us this meant the sad event of losing two of our nests to the sea. In these circumstances there really is nothing we can do to assist and remember that this is a natural event.

We also welcomed another terrapin to our family at the Conservation Centre last week. A terrapin hatchling was found not far from the centre by one of the gardeners and promptly named “Project”. At only 2.7cm long it is still too small to determine gender. This discovery is a great boost as we know the terrapins are breeding successfully in the wetland. We will give you updates on the development and progress of little Project in blogs to come.

Little "Project"- Black Mud Terrapin hatchling

We now have the tanks all set up and are just waiting to put in the gravel. Inside the centre we are cleaning up and making the final preparations to the visitors area. While this area is almost ready we are still working on the preparation and treatment rooms. Dr Johanna brought us a lot of equipment for treatment and we have an anaesthetic machine. However, we are now looking to buy a portable x-ray machine, a vital piece of equipment when dealing with birds and reptiles. While we have some funding towards this expensive machine we will be looking for donations to help us along. We will be setting up a webpage where you can get further information about what we are still needing and how you can make donations to assist the project and the welfare of wildlife in the Seychelles. Every little helps. ….stay tuned.