Aim

We are adopting a creative (& cute) solution to boost biodiversity on the Isles of Scilly, by introducing English Goats to our grazing team

Can you help our newest and cutest team members? 

We are adopting a creative, cute solution to boost biodiversity on the Isles of Scilly, by introducing English Goats to our grazing team. 

These hardworking and cheeky volunteers will be introduced to our wild land on the islands, and cared for by our rangers and Scilly Billy volunteers. Your contributions will help pay for the transport needed to get them safely to and around the islands, to house and care for them, and to support the innovative use of a 'no-fence' collar system. 

Can you help us raise £5,000 to help our cutest new volunteers?

We manage around 700ha of land on Scilly, including 24 SSSIs, covering four inhabited islands and all the uninhabited islands, some of which have thousand of years of history. We already use Ruby Red cattle to manage our land and we're working with the community to use donkeys, too. Now, we're introducing goats to help tackle encroaching vegetation, hopefully making life easier for our rangers and minimising the use of heavy, expensive machinery. Their preference for scrub will create better structured habitats, with less cost and greater conservation benefit, helping Scilly’s habitats and vulnerable species. The use of our no-fence collar system will hopefully enable us roll out grazing to uninhabited islands for the first time, revolutionising conservation on the harder-to-manage and more isolated islands. 

What will we use your donations for?

• Help pay for the transport needed to get them safely to and around the islands - our Goats on Boats!
• Help to house and care for them in the long term
• Support the innovative use of a 'no-fence' collar system
• Recruit and train Scilly Billy volunteer wardens from across the islands, including young people, to assist with goat welfare and conservation management.

Scilly's amazing wildlife

The islands are known for their rare and unusual species, including some that are found nowhere else in the UK. Grazing is a well-known conservation technique, these browsers will preferentially eat plants like bramble, pittosporum and gorse, allowing the less hardy plants to thrive. Our Scilly Billies grazing team will target scrub and woody habitats, boosting local and rare biodiversity and restoring Scilly’s fragile island habitats. Scilly’s wildflowers will have more space to grow and flourish  and we can create larger swathes of land that will benefit insects, birds and the Scilly shrew.

Thank you for supporting our Scilly Billies! We can't wait to introduce them to you! 

This project successfully funded on 21st November 2023