J une Haimoff first stumbled across a loggerhead turtle on Turkey’s southern coast more than 30 years ago. It was a chance encounter that changed her life and the future of the beach she was wandering along.

Already beguiled by the 4km (2.5 mile) stretch of sand, which forms a natural barrier between the Mediterranean Sea and the reed-lined freshwater inlets of the Dalyan river, she set up home there in the 1980s and soon fell in love with the turtles.

Three decades later the 95-year-old Englishwoman still has a shed overlooking Iztuzu beach, which she has campaigned to protect from developers and to preserve as a natural environment where the threatened turtles can breed.

Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Show all 20 1 /20 Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Baby sea turtles crawl to the sea following their release after treatment at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center (DEKAMER) at Iztuzu Beach near Dalyan in Mugla province, Turkey Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Sea turtle eggs are counted by volunteers Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats June Haimoff, known as Captain June, poses for a photo in her hut at Iztuzu Beach. "When I first saw a sea turtle laying eggs, I watched without moving. I remember tears in my eyes," Haimoff said. "From that day I started to collect any kind of information about them that I could." Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Sea Turtle Rescue Center officials inject beeswax into the shell of a sea turtle, injured by a boat propeller Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats A tourist walks past sea turtle nests marked for protection at Iztuzu Beach Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats A sea turtle swims back to the sea following her release after treatment Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats An injured sea turtle is examined Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Local cruise boats carry tourists on the Dalyan river Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats A sea turtle lays her eggs at Iztuzu Beach Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Sea turtle eggs, which will be transferred to a safer part of the beach, in an open nest at Iztuzu Beach Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats A sea turtle under treatment swims in a tank at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats A man walks on a fishgarth on the Dalyan River Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats A sea turtle under treatment is given an injection Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats A sea turtle swims in the Dalyan river Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Professor Yakup Kaska dresses a wound on a baby sea turtle Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Ayfer Sirin, a researcher, and volunteers mark a nest to protect eggs from tourists Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Professor Yakup Kaska puts a sea turtle back into her open-sea cage after a medical check Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats Baby sea turtles crawl to the sea Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats A sea turtle returns to the sea after laying eggs Reuters Saving Turkey's turtles from builders and boats A sea turtle returns to the sea after laying eggs Reuters

“When I first saw a sea turtle laying eggs, I watched without moving. I remember tears in my eyes,” she says. “From that day I started to collect any kind of information about them that I could.”

In 1987, Haimoff and a group of friends fought successfully to block a hotel construction project which would have endangered the turtles’ breeding ground on the beach.

Since then the beach has remained under protection. All construction is banned as well as artificial lighting at night, when holidaymakers are kept away and the turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.

After its conservation success, Iztuzu also became a regional focus for turtles, with the establishment 10 years ago of the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, which treats injured turtles from beaches across Turkey.

The group’s president, Yakup Kaska, who first volunteered at Iztuzu in the early days of the conservation project, says the main threats the turtles face are getting struck by boat propellers, swallowing or getting tangled in fishing lines, and eating clear plastic items which they mistake for jellyfish.

Haimoff, fondly known as “Captain June” because of her love of the sea, teaches visitors about those threats to the turtles, and trains her young students in environmental preservation.