Green turtles make up the majority of the population of nesting sea turtles on the Ningaloo coast, but there are also a smaller percentage of loggerhead and hawksbill turtle nests that can be found here. Although considered to be either Endangered or Critically Endangered worldwide, this coastline supports a healthy population due to its lack of development, low human population density and less frequent commercial fishing activities in the region. Elsewhere across our planet, these turtles are not so lucky. Coastal development is the primary issue. Turtles struggle to nest on busy, bright and noisy beaches. In areas where no concessions have been made to provide suitable nesting habitats, populations are plummeting.

Activity. A seagull has managed to pluck off one of the first hatchlings to emerge and is now trying to evade a squadron of aerial thieves looking to steal the baby turtle from its beak. Turtle hatchlings have a tough start in life. Having broken through the shell of their egg and heaved themselves up through the sand in which they are buried, they arrive to a surface fraught with danger. Flocks of airborne scavengers such as silver gulls and terns gather at these nesting sites during hatching season, ready for an easy meal. If the newly emerged hatchlings avoid predation from above, they still have to navigate dingos, goannas and ghost crabs before they make it to the ocean. It’s easy to see why only one in a thousand turtles survive to adulthood.

My partner calls out to me with excitement as she races across the shoreline and up into a dune where an avian bombardment gives away the fact turtles are emerging from a nest. I get there moments later, scaring away the remaining gulls before more of the hatchlings are taken. I run over this scenario a couple days later, curious about our lack of compassion for the gulls and their need to eat. Some comfort is provided by a local Exmouth resident who had mentioned that the local gull population had exploded during the Covid pandemic due to a boom in tourist numbers visiting the cape. The local rubbish disposal site hadn’t been able to keep up with the waste, providing a bounty for scavengers. These moments certainly get my internal dialogue going about our natural bias towards more ‘charismatic’ species on our planet and the difficulty we have in sitting back and watching as nature, in all its brutal and raw glory, takes the stage.