Photo Credit: South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
Last time, we talked about the challenges our loggerheads are facing this season when it comes to nesting on our eroded beaches. Another example happened with Nest No. 7. This turtle decided to lay eggs between Seagrove and Beachwood East in Wild Dunes, but she had a hard time scaling the rocks that have been exposed since the sand had washed away there. Without rock climbing equipment, she managed to climb up onto the access path and lay a clutch of 111 eggs. But then she had to bounce down the granite boulders to get back onto the flat sand. We don’t know if she scratched up her plastron belly on the way down, but it was an amazing scene to find in the morning.
In other Turtle Team news, the first nest on Sullivan’s Island was laid on June 16. This one was near the shipping channel, where huge container vessels push waves up onto the flat part of the beach. This nest was at Station 17 at the foot of another eroded wall of a chopped-off sand dune and was moved to a dune closer to the maritime forest nearby. It is possible that the many sandbars and eroded beach on Sullivan’s are also causing problems for turtles trying to come ashore to nest. As of June 19, there were 32 loggerhead nests on the Isle of Palms and still one on Sullivan’s Island.
