Going wild for a wild Tortoise

Can you see it? We’re out at a LIPU nature reserve at Castel di Guido. We’re the only ones here. It’s a mixture of ancient Cork Oak forest with some Broadleaved Oak and a few areas of conifer plantation. I spotted it right away.

Hermann's Tortoise - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

A Tortoise! I’ve found a real, live, wild Tortoise!

Hermann's Tortoise - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

It’s quietly munching in the grass when we approach it.

Hermann's Tortoise - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

I check the pattern on its back and think it must be a Hermann’s Tortoise, Testudo hermanni.

Hermann's Tortoise - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Soon it’ll be digging a safe depression in the earth and bedding down for winter so it can wake in spring. They can sleep for four to five months at a time.

Hermann's Tortoise - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

I wish I was a tortoise.

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