Wollongong beach walkers were in for a bit of a shock earlier this month as a green turtle was spotted laying her eggs in what is believed to be one of the southernmost nesting sites on record. While these marine turtles are found in the waters around Sydney and sometimes further south, they usually nest very much in the north, where temperatures are warmer.  

Green turtles spend all of their life in the ocean, except for when the females haul themselves up on the sand and dig their nests using their strong flippers. According to the Queensland Department of Environment, Land and Water, nests need to maintain a temperature of between 23° and 33° to successfully hatch. 

The project officer for NSW Turtle Watch, Holly West, said: “Green turtle nesting occurs predominantly in Queensland on the east coast. We get a few nests in Northern New South Wales each year but very rarely this far south.” 

As it’s coming to the end of the nesting season and temperatures are set to drop, the likelihood of the nest maintaining the heat required for the nest to hatch naturally is low. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service decided to remove the eggs from the nest and incubate them to give them the best possible chance of success.

The eggs recovered from Wollongong are now with authorised volunteers working with Australian Seabird and Turtle Rescue South Coast branch and while it’s hard to predict exactly when they’ll hatch, it should be about the 60-day mark. 

As for what will happen with the hatchlings, Holly says, “The idea is always to return them to the beach they came from and allow them to go through the natural process of running down the beach, but we will have to watch the temperatures, if it is too cold we will have some backup plans if needed.”

If you’d like to get involved, head to Australian Seabird and Turtle Rescue for more information