Bringing people closer to nature

Maintaining access around the islands

The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust plays a vital role for our island community and the 100,000 visitors that we welcome every year. We provide safe access to wild places by cutting over 85km (50 miles) of paths every year, manage 700ha of land (much of which is open to explore) and run events, activities and projects that empower the community to take action for nature. 

Path cutting and maintenance makes up a huge part of our work, particularly in the summer months. This work is supported by the Isles of Scilly National Landscape (previously known as AONB) and is vital to provide access to the islands, allow people to explore safely and responsibly and helping wildlife to thrive in precious environments. Cutting back vegetation can help native plants to thrive, whilst we always make sure to avoid damaging important species.

We understand the positive impact that nature can have on mental and physical wellbeing, so we encourage everyone to enjoy our beautiful wild landscapes.

Recycled boardwalks across our wetlands

In 2015, our Ranger Team embarked on a new and exciting project to replace the existing boardwalk and bridges throughout both Lower Moors and Higher Moors. The new boardwalk is made from recycled "end-of-life plastic", supplied by a company called Filcris. This material has reached its recycling limit and would ordinarily end up in landfill. 

Plastic bottles make up a huge percentage of the litter brought in with each high tide around our coastline, discarded from boats or blown off of land, float around in the sea, they cause problems for our wildlife on land and at sea. Each metre of recycled plastic boardwalk contains the equivalent of 1,000 plastic bottles.

In total, our Ranger Team have removed and replaced 1,000m of boardwalk and bridges to date, thanks to substantial funding from the Peter O'Sullevan Charitable Trust and the Isles of Scilly National Landscape. The decking is made in the UK, using a mixture of post-consumer waste and post-industrial scrap, whilst the planks used in the decking are made of high grade recycled, high density polyethylene. The substructure is also made in the UK and the posts are made in Germany from similar materials.

The whole plastic structure also includes UV stabilisers, which help to create the more natural brown colour of the boardwalk so it looks nicer in our natural environment but also protects the boardwalk from disintegrating in the sunlight.  The newly installed recycled plastic boardwalks and bridges are flexible and high impact resistant and they do not degrade in water. They are also unaffected by salt water. The rough surface not only looks nice aesthetically, but doubles up to ensure that the boardwalks do not get slippery when wet. The plastic should also retain its structural strength for many years meaning that our resources are can be directed elsewhere.