12:00a.m. 17 January 2008

| By Jane Gardner

This endangered loggerhead turtle must have intuitively known her babies would be safe with the Sunshine Beach locals.

She slowly made her way to the patrolled area at Sunshine Beach just after 7am yesterday to lay 110 eggs, while a delighted crowd gathered to watch.

Personal trainer Scott Braby was holding a class on the beach when they spotted the endangered turtle trying to scale a three metre sand dune.

“It was trying to get up into the high dunes, but because there has been so much erosion, it was like a big cliff. It was quite amazing to watch,” he said.

“She couldn’t do it and flipped back down, so laid her eggs at the bottom really close to the main access point at Sunshine Beach.

“We were concerned for the safety of the eggs but with all the onlookers and People were crowding around, but no one disturbed her. It was really good.”

Noosa Lifeguard supervisor Clint Irwin said it was a rare occurrence.

“People love getting up close with nature and you might not see something like this again,for some time, or ever again!” he said.

“It probably happens a maximum of once a year, but they don’t usually lay right where the people are on a patrolled beach.”

Australia Zoo wildlife rescuer Kate Winter and her team relocated the eggs five metres away in the sand dunes.

She said the nesting was extroardinary because turtles didn’t usually nest during the day, or near people.

“Normally they go up in to the dunes but this one couldn’t get up on to the erosion bank,” she said.

“We hope all of them will hatch but it depends on the temperature of the sand, and if we have another huge storm and lose sand, they will be washed away.”

All going well, the babies will hatch within seven to 10 weeks.

Share this