Wednesday 15 August 2018

Leather Little Protection

Many people profess their enthusiasms for marine life such as turtles. But the discovery of a majestic but dead Leatherback turtle in Cornwall originally led to a suspicion that it had been killed by ingesting plastic. The animal feeds largely on jellyfish and, in the water, a plastic bag may look much the same to the beast (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2018/aug/14/plastic-warm-seas-propellers-cornwall-turtle). Necropsy confirmed that the turtle had, in deed, consumed some plastic. Wounds on its 'shell', however, revealed that this animal was probably terminated by collision with a boat's propeller. So that's alright then?

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Birder's Bonus 233

Unusually, a Mute swan ( Cynus olor ) was floating on the Loughor estuary near Bynea.