New rehab centre for washed up turtles opens in Brighton

A rehab centre for washed up sea turtles has opened at Brighton’s Sea Life Centre.

Its first inmate – Barnacle Bill – has just arrived after being rescued off the coast of Guensey in 2023.

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Bill was brought to Brighton last year, and is now being cared for at the turtle rehabilitation and repatriation centre.

The centre has been set up with a £50,000 grant from the Sea Life Trust by curator Joe Williams.who hopes Bill – a female turtle – will be able to return to her natural waters very soon.

Human exposure has been kept to a minimum which has been crucial on her journey back to full health.

She has undergone x-rays, blood tests and received a special diet plan as part of a bespoke curated enrichment programme to enable her to return to the wild – with a little help from the Royal Navy.

Barnacle Bill, a young Loggerhead sea turtle
Picture: Anthony Devlin

When turtles arrive in UK waters they will generally have hypothermia. It is an intricate process to get their internal temperature raised.

Once at the right levels Barnacle Bill is then able to metabolise food and build her energy levels – with the specialist team right beside her counting her calories to ensure she continues to be nourished to the right levels.

Barnacle’s meals have even been carefully created to mimic what she would experience in the wild – with Joe and his team placing food sources beneath rocks forcing Barnacle to have to forage for it – just as she would in her natural waters

The state-of-the-art facility at Sea Life Brighton can even replicate waves and weather patterns – the water depth can even change – to ensure Barnacle once again becomes as accustomed as possible to the conditions she will experience in the wild.

Joe said: “Until now there has been no dedicated UK facility for these turtles which are found washed up. We are delighted to be able to support their recovery and return to the wild.

“Turtles – with the exception of the Leather Back Turtle – should not be seen in UK waters but sadly as a result of climate change this is happening more and more.

“This passion project is something which I have wanted to make happen for many years and I am absolutely delighted that it has now come to fruition – this would not have been possible without the incredible support of my team, The Sea Life Trust and Wildlife Vets International, together with local partners – The Turtle Task Force as we are now known.

“We look forward to nursing many more sea turtles back to full health enabling them to return to their natural waters – and more important than anything helping to protect this endangered species.”

It is vitally important if someone does find a sea turtle on the beach, do not put the turtle back into the water, this will mean the hypothermia will continue and cause death.

Often turtles may look dead however this is not always the case – this could just be an incredibly low heartbeat and these turtles can be saved!

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Joe added: “We are proud we have this purpose-built facility waiting for any turtle which may need our help and support to get back out into the wild here in Brighton.”

Turtles are increasingly being seen washed up on our shores when they are incredibly sick. They are often cold-stunned and have very particular needs for rehabilitation.

During last year 35 turtles were washed up on UK shores, the previous year, in 2023, this was 27 turtles – more than double the 12 turtles rescued in 2022.