Globally, the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) is now listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, external.
The creatures are the most common turtle in the Mediterranean, external, nesting on beaches from Greece and Turkey to Israel and Libya.
A BDMLR spokesperson said while loggerheads were rare in UK waters and did not belong here, the organisation was seeing more.
So far this year, it has been called out to rescues in the Channel Islands, Wales, Scotland, Dorset and Kent, “but I think we’ve only ever had one or two in Suffolk”, they said.
“Sea temperatures are rising, and they get washed up here in storms, usually suffering from cold shock or being ‘cold-stunned’, so they can’t move, and some people think they are dead,” they continued.
“The people who found this loggerhead did exactly the right thing – some people try to put them back in the water, but that is the worst thing for them – we’d encourage anyone who finds one to call us, and we can get it to the experts.”