Paradip: With olive ridley sea turtles yet to arrive at Gahirmatha rookery for mass nesting, the wildlife personnel are in a spot of bother.

As the mass nesting has got considerably delayed, apprehension of marine animals skipping their annual sojourn at the tranquil beach looms large.

"Turtles have already emerged at Rushikulya river mouth for mass nesting and the nesting still continues. But they are yet to appear at the nesting ground at Gahirmatha. However, we are still hopeful of the turtles' sojourn here," said a forest official.

Though the nesting beach at outer Wheelers' Island is perfectly ideal, trawl fishing and human interference might have affected their privacy, feels a wildlife expert.

Wildlife lovers and forest personnel are both apprehensive and worried over the delay in the turtles' sojourn.

"We are still hopeful of the occurrence of mass nesting this year. There are instances in the past years when these animals arrived to lay eggs en-masse in March. We hope that the mass nesting would take place in a week or two," said divisional forest officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) forest division, Bimal Prasanna Acharya.

Every year, olive ridley turtles numbers turn up in millions for laying eggs during January-February in World's largest-known rookery of these species along Gahirmatha beach.

The delay in mass nesting might have also been caused due to the extended spell of winter this year.

Cold weather accompanied by strong wind prevails at the nesting sites - which may not be conducive for en-masse arrival of turtles.