This is the moment a frustrated endangered turtle takes to the sea after trying to lay her eggs too early on a Spanish beach.

The pregnant loggerhead sea turtle – listed as ‘vulnerable’ worldwide – was spotted by a beach cleaner in the city of Orihuela, in Alicante, Spain, as she began to dig a nest on 15th June.

Earlier tests on the turtle had shown her immature eggs were not yet ready to be hatched.

So marine experts from Valancia’s two universities fitted a transmitter on her back and watched as she paddled back out to sea.

Now the experts will be able to track her movements when she returns to the beach to lay her eggs.

Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) are classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and are listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species – or CITES – banning trade in their meat, skins, shells or eggs.

Their biggest conservation struggles are against being entangled in deep sea fishing gear and plastic pollution.