The Tortoise & the Lotus

[lavendertook]

Or, well, turtle and waterlily. For my bb jan_u_wine, who wished to see turtles. She requested a pic of my family turtle Cleo, who lived to be 20, but I don't have a pic of him. However, he was a red-eared slider just like the turtle with the waterlily here. He grew to be a couple of inches bigger than this one.




Cleo had a much cleaner shell, of course, being a pampered house turtle. I took these pics earlier this month.



They are also known as red-eared terrapins. They're called sliders because of how quickly they'll slide into the water if you approach them. One more angle of this red-eared turtle, and then on to more turtle spam from late April to early June.



I took this pic back in April, but one or two turtles come to perch on this stick most days I've been around the lake, which is most everyday this spring.



I don't know what kind of turtle this is swimming through the muck, but I think the pics are mostly either red-eared or painted turtles.



This is definitely an eastern painted turtle, like the little one I found in the path back in April.



This is the same pretty turtle. Look at the red leaf in the upper left hand corner: "<3 the Turtle." (-:






Did you spot all four here? They're ranging from about 3 inches to almost a foot.



There's at least one almost foot long painted turtle on this log most everyday, sometimes accompanied by ducks or frogs. I haven't uploaded the interspecies companionability pics yet, so you'll be seeing them later.

Comments

[spiralsheep]

My mum used to keep terrapins but I've never seen one in the wild so your turtle photos continue to delight me.

[lavendertook]

I'm glad. (-: Are there not many turtles in UK ponds and lakes? I think we have a bumper crop here at Greenbelt Lake this year. I will post many more over time.

[spiralsheep]

The only native chelonia in the UK are migrant marine turtles. There are a few escaped terrapins but I don't think our climate allows them to breed successfully. So your friends are proper "exotics" to my eyes. :-)

[lavendertook]

I did not know the UK was fresh water turtle-less.

[romeny.livejournal.com]

Wildlife is fascinating, I could look at it all day. Love the pics.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

It is. Thank you--I'm glad. (-:

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

ah, my turtle fix! thank you, dear LT! There is a park where I walk every week where there are turtles, but not nearly as non-shy as these. (and.....turtles with frog and duck? Can't wait to see that, esp the frog part!)

thank you!

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite as close as the pics make it look, or more of them would have slipped out of view. About mid-June, the turtles started getting much more shy and hard to photo--I guess they got more experience with human predation after an exuberant, fancy-free April and May celebration of the end of an over-long winter. There is a real bumper crop of them this year. Oh, do I have froggie pics for YOU. (-:

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

will be waiting to see them!

[addie71.livejournal.com]

Those are great pictures. I like the one where they are lined up on the branch in the water. :)

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Thank you, bb! They are so cute on that log--though since mid-June, they've been slipping more quickly into the water when they catch you even looking sideways at them.

[shirebound]

Turtles! I love them.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

:-D

[aliensouldream.livejournal.com]

Love the little turtle train!

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

They are social little beings. (-: