The heavy storms that lashed the islands yesterday could mean an early hatching for the closelywatched turtle nest at Golden Bay – but the rains also bring the risk of drowning the fragile eggs.

Thunderstorms swept across large parts of Malta and Gozo yesterday, with isolated showers and the possibility of more storms expected in the coming days.

Nature Trust chairman Vincent Attard, who has coordinated a round-the-clock volunteer watch since a loggerhead turtle nested on the sandy beach in early August, said that with the eggs nearing full gestation, the rains could lower sand temperatures and trigger an early hatching.

This would not pose a threat to the viability of the newly-hatched turtles, but the risk remains that the eggs could be flooded and drowned if heavy rainfall continues before they hatch, Mr Attard told the Times of Malta.

Research has shown that eggs in flat, poorly drained areas are more susceptible to drowning than those in elevated dunes, and the tendency of female turtles to nest on high, sloping beaches is believed to be an adaptation to sporadic flooding by heavy rainfall.

Mr Attard said the biggest concern for the eggs at the moment was the large amount of light surrounding the bay, particularly from the adjacent Golden Sands Hotel and the Bubble music festival, which took place over the last three days at the Għajn Tuffieħa tower overlooking the bay.

Newly-hatched turtles are instinctively drawn to the brightest horizon, and bright artificial lights often cause them to become disoriented. Vibrations from loud music are also a threat to the eggs, and Nature Trust has previously raised concern about fireworks being let off from the hotel.

Although festival organisers said they had taken all possible precautions to minimise light and sound pollution, volunteers reported loud music on the beach until the early hours of the morning.

Nature Trust has asked the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) to help ensure that the surrounding lights are dimmed or even temporarily switched off when the eggs hatch, while volunteers have already dug a trench from the nest to the sea to help the hatchlings on their way.

The turtle nesting is the first since 2012, when a loggerhead turtle laid eggs at Ġnejna Bay, the first recorded in decades. Those eggs never hatched, with environmental authorities concluding they had become water-logged due to the underlying blue clay. Loggerhead turtles tend to lay between three and six nests a season, with up to 130 eggs in each nest.

Their eggs incubate for around 60 days before hatching, and female turtles eventually return to the beach where they were born to lay their own eggs. The turtles are classified as globally endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Capturing or killing, as well as deliberately disturbing turtles or their eggs, is prohibited by law.