A record-breaking return of a Hawksbill turtle to Desroches Island

A mobile phone photo of the female turtle following her record-breaking return to Desroches Island.

The Hawksbill season has already begun on a positive note for the ICS team on Desroches Island. This week, they observed a female Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) successfully nesting in the bushes in front of a villa at the Four Seasons Hotel. After she laid her eggs, the team took the opportunity to check her tag, which, to their surprise, showed she had visited Desroches 15 years earlier! What’s more is that it laid eggs just a few meters away from its first nest location.

‘Once we realized it was a returning female turtle, we checked the GPS (Global Positioning System) data from our archives dating back to 2009, when ICS first arrived on the island, and were able to determine that it’s not just a returning turtle - it’s a turtle that had a special spot on the island where she wanted to lay eggs again!” said James Wareing, Assistant Conservation Officer of ICS on Desroches Island.
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Wareing stated that this is not just one of the oldest tagged turtles ICS has recorded on the island, but also for Seychelles. Since turtles lay clutches of eggs more than once, Wareing is confident that the female will return during this nesting season, which will end around March. He also noted that the nesting season has started fairly late on Desroches – around the middle of October, compared to August and September in previous years.
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“From our data, a late start in the season usually means that we will see fewer hawksbill turtles this year compared to other years. This highlights the need to continue conservation efforts,” added Wareing.  
On average, Desroches welcomes over 30 Hawksbills annually, with more than 100 nests recorded per year. This is significantly fewer than Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas), which lay eggs all year-round. Over 70 female Green Turtles nest on Desroches each year, totaling around 400 nests. Listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the number of Green Turtles on Desroches has nearly doubled since ICS began collecting data in 2009. In contrast, Hawksbill turtles remain Critically Endangered, making the return of another individual to a Seychelles island an event worth celebrating.

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Map showing the first turtle nest in 2010 and a second nest in 2025, just 140 metres apart — a remarkable reminder of how faithfully these turtles return to their natal beaches.

Hawksbill turtle nesting attempts on Desroches Island from 2010–2024.