Sapphire the Loggerhead Turtle shows signs of recovery at Weymouth Sea Life Centre

When Sapphire was found washed up on the shore at the UK’s southernmost point, its odds didn’t look good.

With a body temperature of 11 degrees – 14 degrees lower than optimum – after a journey through cold unfamiliar waters, she couldn’t open her eyes.

Now through the hard work and tireless attention of staff at the Weymouth Sea Life Centre, she has defied the odds, looking very firmly on the road to recovery.

Sarah Everett, senior aquarist at the Sea Life Centre, said: “When she was first found, it wouldn’t have been too much longer before her body temperature dropped too low and she died.

“Over the last few months, 20 have washed up around the county – largely because of the number of seasonal storms.

“Of those, only about five are still living.”

Laura Bell, who also works at the centre, said: “We didn’t want to talk about her too much to the public at first, because we weren’t sure she was going to make it.

“We would go home every night not knowing whether she was still going to be alive when we came back to work in the morning.”

She arrived at the sea life centre on Monday January 18 after being discovered by ‘Sapphire Boating’ – after whom she is named - on Porth Hellick beach at St Mary's Isles of Scilly.

The British Diver Marine Life Rescue Volunteers arranged for her to be transported to Weymouth where she was immediately placed in a waterless tank for fear she would drown.

She was kept hydrated in the first two weeks through injections by sea life experts at the centre and after that kept on a liquid food diet – blended squid.

Two weeks ago she was moved to a water tank and eats solid food again – giving hope to rescuers that soon they will be able to release her back into the ocean.

Mrs Everett said: “She’s a lot better than when she came in.

“She has pretty much had the all clear health wise.

“She has a typical loggerhead turtle personality – she like to bite your feet.

“When we moved her into the water tank she kept trying to bite through my wellies.”

Though she still has a long way to go, staff at the rescue centre are hopeful that she could be released back into the wild in the summer.

Mrs Everett said: “Now that she’s up to temperature and swimming, the next job is to get the weight on her.

"Turtles are particularly good for release back into the wild.”

When her recovery is complete, she will be tagged by the Sea Life Trust so that she can be recovered if the finds herself in trouble again and flown out to the Canary Islands.

This may take longer than anticipated as loggerhead turtles are registered as 'vulnerable' on the  International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list.

This means they are an endangered species and their movement is highly regulated.