About the reserve

This small group of uninhabited islands comprises St Helen’s, Northwethel and Foreman’s Island. The area is partially sheltered by Tresco and St Martin’s, but the rocky islet of Men-a-Vaur to the north is fully exposed to the Atlantic, meaning that it only has sparse vegetation. However, the island supports eight species of breeding seabird including razorbills, guillemots and fulmars.

The other islands are dominated by bracken and bramble, which also supports a significant population of the balm-leaved figwort. The peak of St Helen’s is a beautiful maritime heath with rich lichen flora and flowering plants such as heather, bell heather and English stonecrop. The island's northwest slope is dominated by maritime grassland of red fescue, thrift and buck’s-horn plantain.

The southern shore of St Helen’s is also important for species including tree mallow and wood small-reed, and it is one of the sites where the nationally rare shore dock has occurred. The island is also home to good populations of great and lesser black-backed gulls, along with a small colony of puffins and growing numbers of Manx shearwater.

Because of the importance of the island for breeding seabirds, the focus has been the removal of invading non-native karo and tree bedstraw from the islands, particularly Northwethel and St Helen’s. We carry out annual biosecurity checks to help control the number of rodents, which may otherwise take seabird eggs, along with managing vegetation around burrow entrances to ensure that seabirds have a tangle-free exit and entrance to their nest sites. We also clear areas within the scrub to provide space for groups of gulls to nest. Recently our Seabird Recovery Project has extended to St Helens in an attempt to remove the rats to protect the breeding seabird population nesting on Round Island.

Read about our Seabird Recovery Project

The island is also important for its archaeology, being one of the earliest Christian sites. It is a good example of an early medieval religious complex, lived in by Saint Lide. You can also see the remnants of the isolation hospital used to quarantine victims of the plague.

We play an active role in ensuring that these scheduled ancient monuments are kept clear of vegetation for the public to come and visit. We provide paths that allow people to explore; please stick to these to avoid disturbance to the nesting seabirds.