SEA Life Loch Lomond has bid a fond farewell to one of its most popular residents - Cammy the Turtle.

Cammy headed south last week to her new home at Sea Life Manchester.

It's understood that Cammy, a 16-year-old female green sea turtle, has reached a stage in her life where she needs to be housed with a male partner.

Enter 12 year-old, Ernie.

Now Sea Life aquarist teams are keeping their fingers crossed the lonely pair will find love in their own underwater fairytale ending.

Mark Hind, sea turtle specialist at Loch Lomond Sea Life Centre and Cammy’s carer, explained: “Cammy is now 16 years old, so she is a sexually mature female and will start to produce eggs very soon.

“If she doesn’t have any male company, she won’t be stimulated to release her eggs and they are likely to become infected inside her, which could cause huge - potentially life-threatening health problems.

“She’s also gone off her food a bit recently, which is a sign she is probably pining for a mate.”

Mark continued: “Fortunately, our colleagues at Manchester Sea Life Centre have a male green sea turtle who has reached sexual maturity – we understand poor Ernie has been making amorous advances to a large rock in the bottom of their ocean tank – so we put our heads together to do a bit of match-making.

“We are really, really going to miss Cammy, but it’s the best thing possible for both turtles and we are keeping everything crossed they will find happiness together.”

On Monday, August 14, aquarists at Loch Lomond Sea Life Centre lifted Cammy, who weighs more than 13 stone, out of the aquarium’s 250,000 litre ocean tank into a specially designed sling.

She was then carefully carried by stretcher to a four metre lorry, complete with non-slip mattress and shallow pool, where she had a specialist at her side at all times during the 230 mile drive to her new home.

On her arrival at Manchester Sea Life Centre she was greeted by resident sea turtle expert, Emma Whittle, and her team, who stretchered her to her new home in Manchester Sea Life Centre’s ocean tank.

And two divers were on hand as Cammy was winched into the water, ready to meet her new partner Ernie.

Emma said: “We are so excited Cammy will be joining us at Manchester Sea Life Centre and are looking forward to continuing the excellent care she has received by our colleagues in Loch Lomond.

“We know the team there spent many months nursing her back to health after she was rescued in the Cayman Islands after ingesting plastic from ocean pollution.

“Her intestines are now very sensitive, so we have had a full briefing on her diet and healthcare.”

Emma went on to say: “Ernie is a very friendly, sociable turtle, he is always looking for attention from our divers when they are cleaning the ocean tank and loves tummy rubs, so we have high hopes he and Cammy will take to each other right away.

“However, we also need to bear in mind there’s a chance they won’t and there could be a little argy-bargy at first to establish who’s boss, in which case we will have two divers on hand to make sure neither turtle gets hurt.

“We’ve also had a temporary partition wall made that we can lower into the tank should the turtles need a little more time to get used to each other.”

Thirteen endangered sea turtles have forever homes at nine different Sea Life aquariums across the UK because their histories mean they cannot be re-released into the wild.

A Sea Life spokesman said: “While Cammy is a victim of ingesting ocean pollution, others have been injured as a result of over-zealous tourism, suffering permanent brain or shell damage from collisions with speed boats in popular holiday resorts."

Sea Life staff hope the turtles’ stories will inspire visitors to support the Sea Life Trust charity’s #TeamTurtle campaign, encouraging members of the public to make personal pledges at teamturtle.sealifetrust.org/pledge website in an effort to reduce plastic ocean pollution.

Pledges so far include using reusable shopping bags, reusable drinking straws and reusable water bottles.

To find out more about Cammy and Ernie’s story visit www.visitsealife.com/manchester.

For more information about marine conservation at Loch Lomond Sea Life Centre, visit www.visitsealife.com/loch-lomond.