Conservation at Tilgate Nature Centre

A refuge for the rare

Did you know that some of the world's rarest creatures are alive and well and living in Crawley?

Endangered animals such as white park cattle, red squirrels and pink pigeons are kept at Tilgate Park's extremely popular nature centre, which has developed an increasingly important role in conservation, acting as an ark, offering refuge to endangered species during the rapid changes affecting their habitats.

By maintaining breeding groups of these animals, Tilgate Nature Centre has become nationally important for its contribution to the preservation of rare breeds of domestic livestock and endangered wildlife species. These species are bred at Tilgate as part of managed 'safety-net' captive populations that, in the event of extinction in the wild, keep open the possibility of re-introduction (if protected habitat were to be available in the future). For example, international efforts enabled over 250 captive-bred Mauritius pink pigeons to be returned to the wild, after the total population fell to only fifteen birds in the late 1970s.

Animal collections such as Tilgate educate the public about the threats to the world’s wildlife, and hopefully encourage them to take action to become ‘greener’ in their everyday life.

Please visit our Rare Species page to view the full list of endangered animals that are kept at Tilgate Nature Centre.

Talks for schools

The nature centre offers a number of educational visits, activities and talks for school children to learn more about the animals kept at the Nature Centre. To find out more and to book a visit please visit the Education page.

Biodiversity at Tilgate Park

Tilgate Park and Golf Course together constitute the largest block of wildlife habitat in Crawley providing homes to many species of flora and fauna. To find out more about these important habitats please visit or Biodiversity at Tilgate Park page.

Like to help us?

Why not support the fantastic work happening at Tilgate Nature Centre by adopting an animal? Adopting an animal costs as little as £20. To find out more please visit our Animal Adoption page.