Number of turtles stranded on British and Irish coast on the rise

There have been about twice as many discoveries of stranded turtles as is usual. Photograph: Mike Pearson

Small, wrinkled and stranded in chilly waters, young hard-shelled turtles have been turning up on the beaches of the UK and Ireland in higher numbers than usual this winter.

According to reports made to the Marine Conservation Society and Marine Environmental Monitoring, 13 juvenile turtles have been stranded since November – 12 loggerheads and one Kemp’s ridley turtle.