News and Blogs

  1. Latest News
  2. Cousin Island News
  3. Blue Economy Seychelles
  4. Green Health Blog
  • Research: Roaming seabirds need ocean-wide protection, research shows

    Unlike other oceans, which are known to have specific “hotspots” where predators, including seabirds, gather in large numbers to feed, the Indian Ocean lacks such concentrated feeding areas, a recent paper has revealed. This lack of hotspots is particularly concerning given the various threats seabirds face due to human activities.[…]

    Read more...
  • Saya de Malha leaves for its third dFAD clean-up expedition

    (Seychelles Nation) The Saya de Malha vessel of the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) left Port Victoria yesterday afternoon for its third drifting Fishing Aggregate Devices (dFAD) expedition clean-up exercise in Seychelles territorial waters and shores of the outer islands. As customary since the first expedition in October 2022, students from Seychelles[…]

    Read more...
next
prev

Coming Soon!

Coral Aquaculture Facility!

coral aquaculture web banner

We have started work on the Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC) facility to revolutionise our coral reef restoration process Learn more

Find Us On ...

Implementing the SDGs

At Nature Seychelles we are committed to working with government, development partners and donors in implementing relevant actions, in particular, looking at certain goals where we can build on our existing strengths. Read more

Seychelles Wildlife

Natural environment of the Seychelles

Seychelles is a unique environment, which sustains a very special biodiversity. It is special for a number of different reasons. These are the oldest oceanic islands to be found anywhere...

Bird Watching

Seychelles is a paradise for birdwatchers, you can easily see the unique land birds, the important sea bird colonies, and the host of migrants and vagrants. Some sea bird...

Seychelles Black Parrot

Black Parrot or Kato Nwar in Creolee is brown-grey in colour, not truly black. Many bird experts treat it as a local form of a species found in Madagascar and...

Fairy Tern

The Fairy (or white) Tern is a beautiful bird seen on all islands in Seychelles, even islands like Mahe where they are killed by introduced rats, cats and Barn Owls....

Introduced Land Birds

A little over two hundred years ago, there were no humans living permanently in Seychelles. When settlement occurred, people naturally brought with them the animals and plants they needed to...

Native Birds

Although over 190 different species of bird have been seen on or around the central islands of Seychelles (and the number is increasing all the time), many of these are...

Migrant Shore Birds

Shallow seas and estuaries are very rich in invertebrate life. Many birds feed on the worms, crabs and shellfish in these habitats; often, they have long bills for probing sand...

Seychelles Magpie Robin

The most endangered of the endemic birds, Seychelles Magpie Robin or Pi Santez in Creole, came close to extinction in the late twentieth century; in 1970 there were only about...

Seychelles Blue Pigeon

The Seychelles Blue Pigeon or Pizon Olande in Creole, spends much of its life in the canopy of trees and eats the fruits of figs, bwa dir, ylang ylang and...

Seychelles White-eye

The Seychelles White-eye or Zwazo Linet in Creole, is rare and endemic. They may sometimes be seen in gardens and forest over 300m at La Misere, Cascade and a few...

Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher

The Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher or the Vev in Creole is endemic to Seychelles, you cannot find this bird anywhere else on earth. Although it was once widespread on...

Seychelles Sunbird

The tiny sunbird or Kolibri in Creole, is one of the few endemic species that has thrived since humans arrived in the Seychelles.

«
»

Achievements

  • Stopped near extinctions of birds +

    Down-listing of the critically endangered Seychelles warbler from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened. Other Seychelles birds have also been saved including the Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Fody, and the Seychelles
  • Restored whole island ecosystems +

    We transformed Cousin Island from a coconut plantation to a thriving vibrant and diverse island ecosystem. Success achieved on Cousin was replicated on other islands with similar conservation activities.
  • Championed climate change solutions +

    Nature Seychelles has risen to the climate change challenge in our region in creative ways to adapt to the inevitable changing of times.
  • Education and Awareness +

    We have been at the forefront of environmental education, particularly with schools and Wildlife clubs
  • Sustainable Tourism +

    We manage the award-winning eco-tourism programme on Cousin Island started in 1970
  • 1
  • 2

A shelled night time visitor arrives on Cousin Island

 

A report from Nature Seychelles International Volunteer Program

On Hawaiian beaches, some parts of the Pacific and Australia, and the Galapagos Islands, Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) come onto land to bask. The reason for this peculiarity is unknown; most turtles get close to the surface of shallow waters to take in the sun and only clamber onto land to nest.

Hawksbill turtles (Erechmotelys imbricata) nesting behaviour in Seychelles is also unique. Unlike in most other places, females lay their eggs in daytime. Throughout the Seychelles during turtle season, on nesting beaches favoured by hawksbills, you will be treated to the sight of a female crawling to and from a nest in broad daylight. It is a spectacle we have become accustomed to on Cousin Island Special Reserve.

Not typically seen here are nesting green turtles. More common and in larger numbers in the outer islands, green turtles don't appear with the same intensity as hawksbills, which nest yearly on Cousin between September to March. Being nocturnal, green turtles are also likely to come and go without being spotted, leaving only the evidence of tracks and eggs behind.

We were therefore thrilled to see a green turtle on the reserve twice within the space of ten days.

 A rare sighting on Cousin but a much welcomed treat 

Turtles follow a regimented process of laying: they emerge from the water, crawl up a beach, find a suitable spot to hold their eggs, prepare a body pit to settle into, dig an egg chamber, and lay their eggs. They then cover the chamber, conceal it against predators and crawl back to the ocean. Because they are sensitive to disturbance, turtles are approached when they enter a trance-like state during laying. 

We'd found our visitor at dusk, just after she'd established her nesting spot and was organising a body pit. As we waited for her to lay, we enumerated the differences between green and hawksbill turtles: The former has larger paddle-like flippers, it crawls with a simultaneous as opposed to alternate gait of the hawksbill leaving behind a symmetrical print in the sand, it is larger - the second largest sea turtle after the leatherback, despite its name, their colour can be anything from olive to green-brown, its name is from the colour of its fat, carapaces are smooth and heart-shaped, and it cannot retract its flippers and head into the shell.

When it was safe to approach, we were able to get a closer look at our new mama and she was beautiful. Cheryl, Nature Seychelles’ Science Coordinator, collected vital data from the turtle that contributes to a long-term turtle conservation programme on the island. She measured the length and width of her carapace, determined her clutch size (number of eggs laid) and applied numbered tags to her flippers to identify her each time she comes back to this and other Seychelles' beaches.

Finally, after disguising her nest, our nocturnal visitor's time on land was up, and she began her journey back to the water. She will return: during this season as green turtles visit nesting sites 3-5 times in a season, and in two to five years time ready to nest and to enchant once more.

By Liz Mwambui

Partners & Awards

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

Our History

Since 1998.

Seychelles Nature, Green HealthClimate Change, Biodiversity Conservation & Sustainability Organisation

@CousinIsland Manager

Facebook: http://goo.gl/Q9lXM

Roche Caiman, Mahe

Donate

We accept donations. Your support and generosity help us continue with our work in nature conservation in Seychelles. Email nature@seychelles.netdonate

Contact Us

Centre for Environment & Education

Roche Caiman,

P.O. Box 1310, Mahe, Seychelles

Tel:+ 248 2519090

Email: nature@seychelles.net