It’s sea turtle season on Lowcountry beaches. Here’s why you need to give them their space

Sea turtle season is officially underway, as Hilton Head Island announced 239 nests as of July 5 on their Facebook page.

Sometimes, though, things don’t always go as planned. The reptiles are skittish, and that led to an unusually high number of false crawls on the evenings of June 25 and 26.

A false crawl is when a female sea turtle comes on shore but does not not nest. There were 14 false crawls on June 25 and 15 on June 26. On those same days there were only seven nests created.

On their Facebook page, the town of Hilton Head Island asks that people give nesting sea turtles their space and avoid using flashlights or engaging in flash photography.

This story was originally published July 9, 2017 at 12:35 PM with the headline "It’s sea turtle season on Lowcountry beaches. Here’s why you need to give them their space."