BRENT LODGE WILDLIFE HOSPITAL
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COFFEE
SHOP
01/12/2025
We are excited to open up our pop-up, charity-run coffee shop (The Coffee Nest Worthing) located outside our Brent Lodge Charity Shop in the The Guildbourne Centre. It offers a cosy and welcoming space for visitors to enjoy quality hot drinks, tasty treats, and friendly service. Every purchase you make helps fund the treatment, rehabilitation, and release of wildlife at Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital. Drop by to see us and grab a tasty treat or drink. FIND OUT MORE
CHARITY
GALA
20/11/2025
Wow, what an epic night we had at our Charity gala evening on Saturday 15th November at Avisford Park Hotel. We went from serving cat food to hedgehogs and cleaning up after pigeons to serving fine dining food to 165 guests. After several months of planning and stressing, the night was absolutely brilliant. We were blown away and totally overwhelmed by the generosity of guests, local businesses, and volunteers helping us to raise over £17,500 to help wildlife in need. Thank you to everyone involved, we are truly grateful!
RED LIST
RELEASE
30/09/2025
This juvenile young bird is a spotted flycatcher. After recovering from a cat attack, she became one of the last summer migratory birds to be released, joining others on their long journey south. Each summer, we treat swifts, swallows, house martins, and occasionally rarer species like wheatears and flycatchers. These birds spend most of their lives in flight and need specialised care if found sick or injured. They need hand rearing and must be at optimum fitness before released to the skies. The spotted flycatcher along with swifts and house martins are on the UK’s Red List after a population drop. Providing nest boxes and protecting natural sites are simple ways you can help them in the wild in time for their return next spring.
15/05/2025
ANIMAL
CRUELTY
Animal welfare centres across the country are seeing a shocking rise in cases of wildlife, farm, and domestic animals being targeted with lethal weapons—including catapults, slingshots, and air guns (some even homemade and then sold). And it is also happening right on our doorstep!! We received a fatally injured pigeon as result of a slingshot attack as well as several orphaned pigeons who’s mother was killed during a separate incident. Other recent reports include swans, garden birds and foxes found injured or deceased at dozens of local locations. To report an incident please contact your local authorities or call 101. If you have a casualty please call our team 01243 641672.
BRENT
GEESE RELEASE
30/03/2025
We recently admitted 2 injured brent geese. One suffered injuries as a result of a brutal dog attack and the other had wounds consistent with a fishing hook entanglement. After several weeks of rehabilitation they made a full recovery and were successfully released back to a local water habitat. They were fit enough to make their long migratory flight thousands of miles away. It was a brent goose admitted over 50 years ago that first inspired our founder, Dennis Fenter, to name the wildlife hospital Brent Lodge. It’s incredibly rewarding to continue helping these beautiful birds all these years later, carrying forward the legacy that started it all. Thank you to all involved their recovery and release. Find out more about our history HERE. Read our Brent Goose blog HERE
BIRD
FLU UPDATE
29/01/2025
As of January 27th, the APHA has declared an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone across England and Scotland, enforcing strict biosecurity measures. We have put some strict admission protocols in place to protect our team, patients in our care and hospital site.
If you have a bird casualty please call ahead before arriving at our hospital site. The team can then go through the admission process. All bird admissions will initially be triaged in isolation outside and our staff will wear full PPE to reduce the risk of spread. We ask you to be kind and patient with the team during this challenging time. We are working hard, under increased pressure, to ensure we continue to give the best and correct care for animals in need.
ROAD
COLLISIONS
30/12/2024
With its abundance of rural habitats, the South of England experiences the highest number of animal collisions in the country. According to a study conducted by Nottingham Trent University, roadkill is the leading cause of death in almost one third of wildlife populations studied, including the iconic barn owl. This stunning owl suffered temporary vision loss following a collision with a car. He received treatment for his injuries and after several weeks of TLC he was well enough to be released. Read our BLOG which gives advice about what to do prevent a collision or what to do in the unfortunate event of colliding with an animal.
NEW
BUILDING
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01/01/2024
We’re proud to announce the opening of our, legacy-funded, Dennis Fenter Patient Admissions Building. This is a major step forward in how we care for wildlife casualties. Named after our founder, the eco-friendly facility includes dedicated triage and veterinary treatment areas, allowing us to provide rapid assessments and tailored care plans. Together with our main hospital, this expansion improves the patient journey and reduces stress for vulnerable wildlife. With high-energy equipment such as incubators and x-ray machines, hospital energy use can be considerable - adding solar power to the buildings is already having a significant impact. These savings go directly back into our core mission: delivering lifesaving care for wildlife, while also reducing our environmental footprint.
STRIMMER
INJURIES ON THE RISE
30/08/2023
Strimmer and garden equipment injuries are on the rise. In the month of May we treated over 25 hedgehogs suspected to be injured by strimmers. Sadly, we were only able to save 4 of them so far. If you really must use a strimmer, CHECK for animals first like hedgehogs, then proceed with caution. PLEASE take care, and check all areas where you think hedgehogs or other wildlife are likely to be sleeping BEFORE you start to use hazardous equipment such as strimmers, shears and mowers. They cause horrific injuries which can be fatal.
NESTING
SEASON
01/12/2023
The NEST-essities During UK’s nesting season
The UK nesting season runs can run as long as February to July. This is a time that studies show that many species of birds are not just nesting but raising their young. It's illegal to cut down trees during this time of year or disturb the nesting birds. It’s essential to plan ahead if you intend on cutting down a tree during this time frame; failure to do so could result in inadvertently damaging or disturbing nests and eggs.
Check out our latest blog from Rosie Buckley with tips and advice.
NEW
CHARITY NAME
01/09/2022
To continue to provide effective care and treatment for sick or injured patients we need to secure the future of our Charity. We have out-grown our small charity origins and constitution (Brent Lodge Bird and Wildlife Trust Charity no. 276179). Having reviewed the options available the Trustees agreed to merge all our Charity's assets to a new CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation). Our aim is that there would be little to no impact for staff and Charity associates, including our valued supporters. In summary, the proposed conversion to a CIO would mean a new charity number and a minor name change from Brent Lodge Bird & Wildlife Trust to become known officially as Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital. We value your support.
50th
ANNIVERSARY
01/01/2021
We want to wish all of our lovely supporters a Happy 50th Anniversary. We have come a long way from when Dennis set up a humble wildlife hospital to take care of a tiny sparrow. We hope you will join us this year as we celebrate our achievements, acknowledge those who have helped us along the way and of course pay tribute to Dennis. Coronavirus will no doubt restrict our plans so we will need your help to make 2021 a year to remember!
HOSPITAL
SPACE
With thanks to The Beryl Evetts and Robert Luff Animal Welfare Trust and The Robert Clutterbuck Charitable Trust for their very generous donations towards our hospital upgrades project. We still have a few more upgrades to make but the hospital is now more space efficient for us to safely house the increasing number of patients we now treat. The improved space is also proving valuable for our staff as they continue to function and work at a safe distance from each other throughout the remainder of the pandemic.
POLLUTION
IS A KILLER
We are seeing a disturbing increase in sea and water bird casualties suffering from pollution-related injuries. It is distressing to see needless suffering caused by discarded fishing hooks, line entanglement, PPE, and poisonings from plastics and oil spills. Some recent bird admissions have had terrible injuries from discarded fishing line or fishing hooks through their feet and were dying a cruel death from starvation or infection. Despite our best efforts most do not recover.
A LIFE OF
COMPASSION
It is with great sadness and respect that we pay tribute to the passing of Dennis Fenter MBE, our Founder. Dennis passed away peacefully in his sleep in July 2019. We are all incredibly proud of his work and achievements helping injured wildlife and will build on his legacy to ensure that his passion and dedication to wildlife welfare continues into the future. 2021 will be a special anniversary year to celebrate his work and 50 years of wildlife care. We aim to raise funds for a new patient admissions and quarantine building to be named in Dennis' honour.
01/05/2020
OVER 50 YEARS OF DEDICATED WILDLIFE CASUALTY CARE