On holiday on Ascension Island we were lucky enough to witness the threatened green turtles making their way back to the sea after laying eggs on Long Beach, first thing in the morning.
Later that day at English Bay I spotted a turtle hatchling next to the rocks halfway down the beach. At first sight it appeared to be stuck so I decided to help it to the sea.
I popped it at the edge of the water and it started swimming. It had one slightly gammy flipper so wasn't making great progress across the pounding Atlantic rollers. I watched as the poor wee thing tossed and turned in the breaking surf.
As I watched the little black outline inch its way closer to the open sea a seabird flew straight down, picked it up, flew back up a few feet, then swallowed it whole!
Mortified, I consulted my bird book to find that the predator was a frigatebird, whose conservation status is also threatened.
Phew!
