Baby penguins that inadvertently stray from their mothers and get lost on the Falkland Isles, received a welcome boost today when it was announced the Duke of Cambridge is to spend 6 weeks as a search and rescue co-pilot based somewhere in the South Atlantic.

The Prince - who has been helping chums keep the peace on Anglesey for the past two years - could have gone to either Afghanistan or Iraq to help in the war effort against rebel insurgents but chose the Falkland Islands ahead of the war torn territories so that he could employ his crack piloting skills to search for, and then rescue any baby penguins that may have wandered off from their parents and got a bit lost.

Wildlife experts say the Falkland Islands is home to some of the most dizzy baby penguins of any British overseas territory and it is hoped the Prince's intense training at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst will hold him in good stead when he is out on patrol searching for the little darlings.

Other creatures that might be searched for and rescued by Flt Lt Wales during his tour of duty in the South Atlantic include sea lions, sheep and a spider.

An RAF spokesperson said the chances of Prince William needing to rescue any of the islands 3000 inhabitants are virtually nil as none of them have dared venture outside since the day his uncle Andrew and a few naval friends let a golfing weekend get out of hand back in the summer of 1982.

News that Wales will almost certainly be caught floundering in deep water somewhere in the South Atlantic early in the new year soon had Japanese fisherman polishing their harpoon guns in anticipation.

To be continued.......