Interesting encounter in London

[ffutures]

Spotted in a pond on a "nature reserve garden" in a small park near my house in London - I think this explains why I've never seen any amphibians in there. I was a bit astonished, given the occasional coldness of the British climate, but it's probably several years since we had enough sustained cold weather to freeze the pond:



Shell length about 4", I think. Almost certainly a red-eared terrapin.

Comments

[eledonecirrhosa.livejournal.com]

The BBC's One Show did a film about turtle and terrapin dumping. It's scary how many species there are! Video clip on the Beeb's website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Turtle#p00hhhk0

I remember hearing that red-eared terrapins could survive UK winters, but fortunately it never gets warm enough for them to breed.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'll have a word with the people who run the place, maybe they can catch it or something.