Nature Seychelles

The last nest of the 2025-26 Hawksbill turtle nesting season has been dug up on Cousin Island, and what a fantastic finale it was, with live hatchlings making their way to the sea!

Why do we excavate nests?
Our team digs up nests to assess how successful the hatching was. By carefully looking at what’s left behind - from unhatched eggs to spotting any mutations or signs of predation - we can collect essential data for turtle conservation. And the best part? We get to help the little "stragglers" who couldn’t make it to the surface on their own finally reach the ocean.

Goodbye, 2025-26 Hawksbill turtle nesting season!

10 months on, here is one of the Aldabra Giant Tortoise babies from our hatching experiment. See this reel for a refresher on how and why that came to be: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BeQmQyNMu/

📷 Chris Tagg, Jessica Nasica

Happy Birthday to Sir David Attenborough, from one giant to another.

📷 George, Aldabra giant tortoise. Cousin Island. Christopher Jean-Luc Mahoune

The Ministry responsible for Environment is urgently calling on volunteers with fire prevention and firefighting training to assist as a fire continues to spread rapidly on Praslin.

Rest day. 🐢 Happy Labour Day 🇸🇨

📷 Aldabra Giant Tortoise - Chris Tagg

Last Thursday, we brought together wetland practitioners from Ministry of Environment, Climate, Energy, and Natural Resources Constance Ephelia Resort, the community, and LEAP Junior club for training and beta-testing of our brand-new mobile app designed for wetlands. This innovative tool aims to replace paper forms with a simple digital system that works on regular phones and tablets. A heartfelt thank you to our partners for their invaluable feedback as we polish the final features. We’re just weeks away from the official launch! Stay tuned - the full rollout is coming this May!

Nature Seychelles "Wetlands of Hope" project, which seeks to improve wetland management in Seychelles through collaboration is funded by the EU EU in Mauritius European Union in Seychelles and is implemented with Ministry of Environment, Climate, Energy, and Natural Resources

📷 Photos taken on the CANON EOS R5, R7, R50 and PowerShot V10 thanks to Canon EMEA Pro

Christopher Mahoune is the Chief Warden of Cousin Island Special Reserve, and is one of the most dedicated people to conservation we know. Our imaging partner Canon Europe, who has not only funded Seychelles' first coral spawning lab but also generously provided imaging equipment to aid our conservations efforts, has beautifully captured his story on Canon VIEW. Check out the story here https://www.canon-europe.com/view/world-unseen-coral-conservation/christopher-mahoune-cousin-island/

📷 Source: -emea on LinkedIn

Aldabra Giant Tortoise at sunrise vs Brown (or Common) Noddys at Sunset. What's your favourite?

📷 Chris Tagg

Our science officer rescued this Seychelles Kestrel (Falco araeus, Katiti) from a sticky situation - literally. It was found ensnared in sticky Pisonia grandis (bwa mapou) seeds on Cousin Island, unable to fly but very much alive. This bird is usually found on islands like Mahé, Silhouette, Praslin, and La Digue, but not on Cousin, which makes this encounter all the more unusual. Pisonia is the most widespread tree on the island, and during this time of year, the trees produce their sticky seeds, which can adhere to bird feathers, potentially rendering them flightless. He immediately set to work. Thankfully, the Katiti didn't appear to have been stuck for long. After careful removal of the seeds, made extra challenging by the very feisty bird, and a night to recover - complete with food and water - it was safely released on Praslin by the Reef Rescuers. Read the full story on our website https://www.cousinisland.net/blog/

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