Every spring the turtles come up from the creek and dig their nests in the yard at the side of our house. So far we’ve seen at least five turtles laying their eggs, and we can see traces of at least another half dozen nests that appeared when we weren’t watching.
This turtle is a medium sized eastern painted turtle, and we also get a fair number of snapping turtles. The snapping turtles get pretty big, and we often see them up to a foot across and larger. They love to find nice soft soil to dig in, so my pile of topsoil is often a favorite nesting location. They love our garden too, and were not easily deterred by the fence I put up around it. Last year a 14″ snapper spent about a half hour walking around the perimeter of the fence checking for weaknesses. Alas, the garden is safe, but I won’t be moving any topsoil for at a couple of months.
We will see the empty shells once the turtles hatch and crawl back to the water. That’s when I know it’s safe to dig on that side of the yard again.