Sea turtle Barnacle Bill treated at UK's first dedicated rehab centre
The number of sea turtles washing up on UK beaches has more than doubled in recent years, prompting the creation of the country's first dedicated rehabilitation centre in Brighton.
Last year, 35 sea turtles were found stranded on British shores, compared to just 12 in 2022.
Many arrive suffering from severe hypothermia, disoriented by storms and ocean currents - an issue that experts say is being driven by climate change.
Of the seven species of sea turtle, three are classified as endangered, with two of those, Hawksbills and Kemp's Ridleys, being critically endangered.
In response, SEA LIFE Brighton has opened the UK's first purpose-built Turtle Rehabilitation and Repatriation Centre, providing specialist care to nurse these vulnerable creatures back to health.
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The project was the brainchild of SEA LIFE's curator Joe Williams.
He told Sky News: "Turtles shouldn't be turning up here in the UK. Climate change is a massive driver in this.
"Climate change leads to more storms, and storms can very much disorient turtles when they're out at sea. Then particularly when they're in cold waters, they lose control of their limbs."
The centre opened in December, and already had its first patient: Barnacle Bill, a loggerhead turtle that was rescued off the coast of Guernsey in 2023.
SEA LIFE aquarist Grace Cavanagh said: "She's named Barnacle Bill because she was found with a lot of barnacles on her.
"And that means she's probably been floating about cold stunned, hypothermic for quite a while. There's been a lot of critical care for her to make sure she was okay."
Barnacle Bill was treated for hypothermia in Guernsey, and the focus now is on rehabilitation, so she is ready to be returned to the wild.
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Unlike the other turtles at SEA LIFE Brighton, Bill is not on display.
She is housed in a special tank, behind strict biosecurity measures, to limit human exposure.
Bill has a regular regime of "enrichment" to try and stimulate her natural behaviours such as swimming, exploration and feeding.
The tank has a wave machine to mimic the sea, and Bill's meals are sometimes hidden beneath rocks to encourage her natural foraging instincts.
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Once she's ready, Barnacle Bill will be transported back to the wild aboard a Royal Navy warship.
Although there's no definite schedule, the team at SEA LIFE say it could be any day now.
But with turtle strandings rising every year, the Brighton centre may not stay empty for long.
Main image: GSPCA Guernsey
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