A TURTLE rescued after being washed up on an Aberystwyth beach at the weekend is of the rarest sea turtle species in the world and is “critically endangered”.

After finding a juvenile Kemp’s Ridley­ turtle near the Glengower Hotel on Aberystwyth North Beach on Saturday afternoon, Kevin Williams took the turtle to his house where he left it in a shallow bath of water until it was picked up and taken to be rehabilitated on Sunday.

Kevin said he noticed a strange object at the high tide mark on the beach while walking along the prom.

“I climbed down the sea wall and on getting closer, saw that it was definitely a turtle,” Kevin told the Cambrian News.

“I picked it out of the seaweed and flotsam that had partially covered it, and it started to move, albeit very slowly.”

After not getting an answer from the Marine Conservation Society, Kevin called his friend and diving enthusiast, Kerry Lewis.

He added: “I gave Kerry a call as she knows anyone and everyone who deals with this sort of thing; her network turned up the details of Rod Penrose, the Strandings Co-ordinator for Wales."

Speaking to the Cambrian News, Dr Peter Richardson of MCS praised Kevin and Kerry for a “text book rescue”.He said: “Kemp’s Ridley turtles are the rarest species in the world and are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being ‘critically endangered’.“This was a text book rescue – they knew not to put it back in the sea beca­use it would have certainly died.“As soon as sea temperatures drop below 15°C they stop feeding and will develop hypothermia."Live stranded turtles in the UK should be reported immediately to Marine Environmental Monitoring on 01239 683033 or the regional numbers listed on the UK Turtle Code at www.mcsuk.org/downloads/­wildlife/turtlecode.pdf.See this week’s Aberystwyth edition for the full story, in shops now or online by clicking the Digital Editions tab at the top of the page