It’s diamondback terrapin hatching season in the newest turtle garden established by the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey in the Great Bay Wildlife Management Area. Project Manager Ben Wurst has been monitoring the 50 or so nests that were created this spring to protect them from predators so the hatchlings could have a fighting chance of survival.

On Sunday, Sept. 6, he was again checking the nests that had been covered with a protective cage, or “predator exclosure,” to see if any eggs had hatched.