Leatherback Turtles: Our most incredible visitor?

When I was a kid I saw a dead Leatherback Turtle mounted for display in Ardara, Co. Donegal. I was told in the 1980s that this was a totally freakish event. How could one of the largest Turtles in the world get to the Northwest Coast of Ireland? Well, thanks to brilliant research over the past 15-20 years, it seems these ocean wanderers migrate to our waters from the tropics every year. Sightings are reported pretty often these days, and the Cork coast seems to be a favourite spot. So it was nice to see Michael Viney write about Leatherbacks this week in his "Another Life" column. and you can read the article here:

www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0522/1224270862982.html

These Turtles are just jellyfish crazy. If you had one over for dinner, and you served it the finest food in the land, it would push the plate away and state, "Sir, I kindly refuse your attempt at haute cuisine; please bring me the finest Jellyfish known to man". To find out more about our Jellyfish, and the Leatherbacks that dine on them in Irish waters, here is a link to The Irish Leatherback Sea Turtle Project which has some great info on turtle migration.

www.jellyfish.ie/turtle.asp



I should also say that this photo isn't mine - its from this Scienceblogs article on "Leatheries" so credit where its due - I just wanted to give an idea of the size, and the chances of getting a photo of a Leatherback on an Irish beach are slim to none.

http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2007/04/leatherback_turtles_going_wher.php