It's been a very exciting time for the Turtle monitoring team on Cousin Island in the past couple of months. Nearly two months of waiting are over and hundreds of nests have hatched and the brand new baby hawksbill turtles been born. Alongside the hatchlings, the monitoring team has also retrieved data from 30 nests through a pilot program looking at how cool or hot the nests are. The data was retrieved from temperature data loggers that were buried in the nest during laying.

Cousin Island Special Reserve enjoys a relatively stable population of breeding seabirds according to censuses conducted from 2006 to July 2009. The white-tailed tropicbird (Payanke), in particular has had a stable population since 2006. The Tropicbird mean number was estimated at around 1,000-1,200 breeding pairs in July 2006 and 2009, similar to what was already found 10 years ago in 1999.

August is almost here and the howling South East Monsoon winds are upon us. It is nearly time for the popular one day Sailfish tournament which will be hosted by the Seychelles Sports Fishing Club on Saturday 5th September. During this tournament, numerous anglers take to the seas with rod and lure in search of the elusive sailfish, the fastest of all fish and probably the most valued game-fish species after the blue and black marlins - the “Holy Grails” of sport fishing.

Efforts to make Cousin Island the first carbon neutral reserve in the world received a dose of publicity at the end of last month through a CNN World Report submitted by the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).