The natural habitat of Pantazi beach in Agios Nikolaos has taken a bit of a battering from human activity in recent years. Firstly the severe cutting back of the tamarisk and eucalyptus trees to make way for the new Cube Bar and then earlier this year, the creation of a huge, tarmac car park on the other side of the main road that virtually nobody uses. But other elements of the natural world seem to have turned a blind eye as last week there was a happy announcement of a confirmed turtle nest being identified on the beach.

Some social media platforms attributed the discovery to “Turtle Watch”. This is true but the term may be misleading and so needs clarity. It is not an official wildlife organization but rather just a couple who live locally and when they’re around and have time, monitor our local beaches for potential nests being created. That is all they do and that is all they are legally allowed to do. But nevertheless, a commendable and needed job. The photos they took of turtle tracks and the creation of a nest are irrefutable and so protective stakes now ring-fence the nest which, as long as it remains undisturbed, will lead to hatching in less than 2 months.

The official organistaion for the conservation of turtles in the Peloponnese is called Archelon who state on their website that in 2024 “approximately 13,000 loggerhead sea turtle nests were recorded and protected along 100 kilometers of nesting beaches in the Peloponnese, Zakynthos, and Crete. The recovery of the loggerhead sea turtle breeding population in Kyparissia Bay has been confirmed! This site now hosts the largest breeding population in the Mediterranean.”

If Turtle Watch suspect they have located a potential nest, they report it to Archelon.

Turtle Watch also told us that last year was a great year locally – “Last year baby turtles hatched for sure on Pantazi (3 or 4 nests last season), on Kalogria (1 nest), on “small” Halikoura (1 nest), on “big” Halikoura (1 nest) and maybe we also had one nest on Delfinia. Last year was a special year, there was more than usual turtle activity all over Greece. In Kyparissia Bay more then 8000 nests were discovered, the years before it was an average of 5000.This year they have already more than 6000 nests and nesting season is still going on until the middle of August. “