Serrated Hinged Terrapin

Now this will teach me not to forget my camera wherever I go. It rain heavy last night especially in the early hours of this morning. About 7o'clock the rain let up and remembering that there was going to be a dog walk at the bottom of my garden I jumped out of bed, washed, grabbed my raincoat and off I set with my three Italian Greyhounds bouncing with excitement. Only Sam turned up and the others remained snugly tucked in bed. 

There was large swathes of water logged areas and my three Italian Greyhounds and Sam's Whippet and one Italian just loved running full speed through the shallow patches looking like speed boats with their spray of water behind them. In the deeper areas that we waded through the dogs clearly showed us their displeasure. 

Well in one spot far from the seven dams at the bottom of my garden, we found this Serrated Terrapin stuck in this trench that had been dug for a storm water drain across a field. The only course of action was to return it to the safety of one of the dams, so I picked it up. The terrapin proceeded to use its long craws on me and I had to use my raincoat as protection from the craws. The terrapin finding that clawing me didn't help decided to relieve itself but luckily I was holding it away from my body. Not realizing that I was trying to help it and that clawing nor weeing didn't help it escape my hold, it then played dead. The terrapin miraculously came alive when I placed it in the shallow waters of the 2nd dam and it swam for freedom. 

Now why didn't I have my camera with me or even my cellphone. Thankfully Sam had her Blackberry from which she snapped this pic of me rescuing the Serrated Hinged Terrapin. They say the best camera to have is the one you have with you.