by Mary Reid Barrow

As if proving a point after reading my last Nature Notes on the turtles among us, this snapping turtle came lumbering out into Tom Dillon’s yard.

“Saw this lady coming out from under our deck and we think she was laying her eggs there,” Tom said. “She was bigger than this picture makes her look.”

Tom said he didn’t want to look for the eggs for fear of disturbing the nest. He lives in Plantation Cove on a marsh off a little creek that eventually feeds into the Lynnhaven River. A brackish marsh like that would be snapping turtle heaven.

“She trundled back to the marsh, and we haven’t seen her since,” he said.

That’s a turtle for you. They lay their eggs, go off and forget them and the babes fend for themselves when they hatch.

And there are babes out there already hatched. If turtles lay their eggs late in summer, the eggs or youngsters can winter over and emerge in spring.

LRNow’s director Karen Forget came across this tiny Diamondback Terrapin hatchling in a grassy area off the trail near the new wetlands at Pleasure House Point.

“He had to travel overland a little, but he was headed toward the river,” Karen said.

And LRNow Pearl Faith and Pearl Schools Manager Emily Lomauro came across this  tiny red-eared slider on the sidewalk near her home. Its mama was probably down sunning with not a care in the world alongside the neighborhood stormwater pond.

As if the box turtles knew I had been talking about them in my last Nature Notes, Chris Beach with Eco Gardens 757 found two down in my garden the day he was working in my yard. This one was almost impossible to see in the vegetation, and as box turtles have done in years past, I bet she was laying her eggs in the sandy soil.

The box turtles will probably hang around with me until my blueberries ripen up and then they will spend a couple of summer months in blueberry bliss, cruising under the bushes, dining on dropped berries.

I love the thought that box turtles live alongside me and enjoy my yard. Jim Deppe, a former LRNow staff member, who sent this photo, put it so well.

“We have a couple of eastern box turtles in our yard who home base in the deep green beneath the Japanese Maple,” Jim said. “It’s wonderful to know that we are sharing the space with fellow earthlings.”

I couldn’t agree with you more, Jim!