Scilly Billy appeal
Can you help support our Scilly Billies?
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.
Donate to our Scilly Billies
Can you help us raise £5,000 to support our (very!) Scilly Billies?
Can you help us raise £5,000 to help our cutest new volunteers?
We are delighted to be one of the projects chosen by the Save our Wild Isles community fund. Aviva, in partnership with WWF and the RSPB, is giving £1 million to support community groups across the UK to protect and restore nature in their local area. For every £1 you donate, they will give £2 to help us reach our target.
What will our Scilly Billy team do for island wildlife?
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 also work with the local community to use donkeys for grazing, 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?
Your donations will:
- 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
- to 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 technique to help knock back bramble 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 flying insects, birds and rare mammals (like the Scilly shrew!).
We did it!
Thank you for supporting our Scilly Billies! With your support we raised above our target reaching £7,208 ( + est. £762.00 giftaid ) with 97 supporters in 42 days. Follow along on our social media on facebook and instagram to keep up to date with our Scilly Billies.