Week 8 Volunteering @ ARCHELON 16/08-22/08

 Week 8 began with shading 3 nests of Mavrovouni West. Shading was where we would place up beach mats behind and alongside the nest prior to the nests estimated hatch date. This was to protect and 'shade' the nest from the artificial lights at the back of the beach, to prevent disorientating hatchlings. This was our way of giving them the best chance of making it to sea without getting lost. 

A shaded nest!

 The next day I went along and helped Sammy shade a found by hatching nest on Vathi in the evening. A 'found by hatching' nest is where a turtle either laid a nest before started monitoring the beaches (before the project started) and then it hatched and we located a nest. Or possibly a turtles nesting attempt was misidentified, and it was in fact a nest. Locals reported to Sammy hatchlings came out of a general area, but it was such a huge space that they claimed and there was no clear area the hatchlings may have come from (no clear singular crater in sand). Therefore we shaded a huge space while Finn and Rosie did the survey on the rest of Vathi. 

 On the 19th I had my first excavation! Excavations were where 10 days after the first hatch event of a nest we dig the nest up and open the egg chamber and see what happened to each egg and why. It's a way of determining the egg success rate for the nest. I was the one scribing, which means I was writing down all the information about the nest.

Sammy teaching me how to scribe

  Scribing things such as the clutch size (how many eggs were in the nest), how many hatched or didn't and why not e.g. Bacteria, or what stage of development the embryo made it to. After the survey and excavation me Sammy and Anna had some real great selfies with the shipwreck on Valtaki!

 And on the Saturday, Lizzie my great friend left... She had been there for the 8 weeks with me. She had arrived the same day as me and we went through it all together. And it was weird after she left, knowing only Sammy and Anna were there for some of the stories and things I'd refer to. Saying that though, I have new stories with those newer people which the people who left don't know of. It's hard when people leave though, regardless of how great new people are. But before she left on the Friday me, Lizzie, Sammy and Anna had a lovely pizza lunch at Castello Antico - a local hotel.

Sammy, Lizzie and Me on Lizzies last Taverna night

Summary:
16/08- ?
17/08-  MS S / Me, Lizzie, Anna and Sammy visited Lidl! / Shading MW009/10/11 19:00
18/08- MS S / K 14:00-16:00 / Shading B
19/08- MS MW / ES V + EX
20/08- K 10:00-12:00 / cook
21/08- MS MW / K 14:00-16:00
22/08- MS ME

Key:
MS- Morning Survey
ES- Evening Survey
LS- Light Survey
NP- Night Patrol
K- Kiosk
BC- Basecamp
IT- Information Table
SS- Slideshow
EX - Excavation
SH- Shading 

Beach Codes:

M- Mavrovouni (Whole beach)

ME- Mavrovouni East

MW- Mavrovouni West
V- Valtaki

S- Selinitsa
B- Vathi