A security guard tasked with watching over loggerhead turtle eggs at Ġnejna Bay infuriated conservation activists on Sunday by driving his car right onto the sand next to the fragile eggs. 

The turtle eggs have been fenced off.

Environmental authorities working together with Nature Trust have set up a perimeter zone around the turtle eggs and created a round-the-clock volunteer watch programme to ensure they remain protected. The area is also subject to an Emergency Conservation Order. 

Bright lights, loud noises and sudden vibrations can be harmful to turtle eggs, and Ġnejna Bay visitors have been urged to keep noise to a minimum and their cars away from the nesting site. 

None of that seemed to register with the security guard, however, whose car was photographed on the sand by a Times of Malta reader. 

"We were so shocked by his behaviour," Nature Trust executive director Vince Attard said when asked about the incident. "Some people assumed the car belonged to a volunteer, but they would never do that. All volunteers park on the tarmac  as even off-roading there is illegal."

At least the incident ended with a silver lining. 

"We reported the case and we've been told that the person has been reprimanded and told not to do so again," he added. 

Volunteers have been keeping watch over the site since June 25, when a loggerhead turtle came ashore in the dead of the night and laid eggs on the beach before returning to the sea.