What a wonderful Santa surprise for Folly’s turtles! Thank you very much, Santa, for your VERY generous donation for sea turtle nest protection on Folly Beach. We’ll put your gift to good work. Happy holidays!
Recent News
For the first time ever, the Crew “marched” in Folly’s wonderful Christmas Parade on December 10th. We had a great time throwing candy, sharing slap bracelets, and handing out “Protect the Edge” bumper stickers to lots of happy holiday hearts. It’s a wonderful community event and we’re so grateful to Susie for getting us in the spirit.
Susie and Shannon lead the way!
Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission has decided that the County Park at the far west end of Folly Beach will NOT be open for the summer of 2012. The complete story (with photos and video) is available on the ABCNews4 website.
The 2011 nesting season report and final stats will be posted soon. While those efforts are officially over, the Crew is always on-call for sea turtle strandings — the presence of a non-nesting turtle on the beach.
Two strandings have occurred in the last week. One was a small (13-inch) Kemp’s Ridley found along Lighthouse Inlet at Folly’s north end. The other was a 27-inch loggerhead. Both turtles were dead — often the case with a stranded animal.
The turtles were measured, photographed, checked for tags and reported to SC/DNR. The Kemp’s was collected for further study by marine biology students and the loggerhead was buried on the beach.
Many thanks to all of you who report the presence of these turtles to Folly Public Safety or to DNR. The data collected from strandings provide important information for the protection of sea turtles.
A very special loggerhead from THE most special nesting area in South Carolina (Cape Romain) will be released at 1 p.m. from the Isle of Palms County Park tomorrow, Friday, October 7.
For more information, visit the SC Aquarium Sea Turtle Hospital’s website and blog and look for McClellan’s amazing story.
Inventory of Nest #66 at 519 West Ashley will begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 28. Hope to see you on the beach for what may be the last of our public inventories for the 2011 season.
Lucinda called her friend and sea turtle volunteer Sharon with the question:
“It’s alive! What should I do?”
Sharon contacted other Folly Crew members responsible for strandings and rushed to met Lucinda on the beach near the 6 East walkover. Sharon and Carl had thoughtfully brought a bucket and gathered seawater to gently hydrate the beached turtle. Bob arrived on the scene, quickly assessed the situation and contacted SC/DNR Endangered Species biologists to alert them to the need for a probable transport to the Sea Turtle Hospital.
That was our introduction to an eight pound, roughly 14-inch Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle now known as “Edge.” Though there were no apparent injuries, Edge had a fairly heavy barnacle load for a young Kemp’s and was very thin and lethargic — weak and kind of “sad” looking. The only energy shown was a bit of flipper movement toward the ocean when Sharon and Carl would drizzle water over Edge’s carapace (shell).
Charlotte Hope, DNR biologist, arrived, wrapped the turtle in a wet towel and proceeded to the SC Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital where it was admitted and is currently being cared for.
More background, photos and updates are available on the Sea Turtle Hospital’s website and blog.
As a Kemp’s Ridley, Edge is special in many ways.
As a LIVE stranding on Folly, Kemp’s is extra special. Of the eleven turtles that have stranded on Folly this season, only two (both Kemp’s) were live strandings. The other was caught on hook and line at the Folly Pier early in the season, was cared for and has already been released by the Sea Turtle Hospital. The other nine were mostly loggerheads with heavy barnacle loads and injuries, including fishing line entanglement. Just a few days after Edge was found, a beautiful adult loggerhead was found dead at 6 West with severe injuries to the rear carapace.
So … you’ll understand why we’re so very grateful to Lucinda and Sharon and Carl for their first response and quick actions, to Bob for handling all the official communications, and to Charlotte and the folks at the Sea Turtle Hospital for continuing the effort to save this very special sea turtle.
Sept 25 update: Unfortunately, despite everyone’s best efforts and great care, Edge experienced seizures from which there was no recovery. The necropsy indicated brain lesions which caused the neurological difficulties that the Hospital staff had diagnosed. Again, our thanks to all those who took care of Edge.
If the weather holds, there will be an inventory at 519 West Ashley this evening (Sept. 20) at 7 p.m. Should it be pouring rain on the beach at that time, the inventory will likely be cancelled. Sorry to be so last minute and so if-y, but wanted to give those truly interested a chance to join us. Thanks.
At last! Nests ready for inventory. These are the first nests to be inventoried since Hurricane Irene’s visit.
Inventories will begin in the following order at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 14th:
Nest #71 at 303 East Arctic
Nest #65 and Nest #76 at 907 East Arctic
It’ll be extra-interesting to see these results — please join us if you can.
The bad news:
Irene took 11 unhatched nests.
The irritating, but not so bad news:
Data lost when 2 hatched, but not-yet-inventoried nests washed away.
The good news:
13 overwashed nests are still here and may produce hatchlings.
Located in old Coast Guard Station.
It will be a long comeback for the beach (much sand and vegetation lost, many walkovers damaged and unsafe), but considering how much worse it could have been if the Irene had come just a little closer or if the wind direction had changed, well … we know we were very, very fortunate.
Early Irene at 13 East Walkover.
1500 East block
1600 East block
1600 East -- note exposed rock, no sand, no veg.
