A CONSERVATION initiative aimed at protecting one of Scotland’s most endangered species has come up with a novel approach to setting up wildcat reserves – through crowdfunding.

Wildcat Haven has been working on a shoestring for the past seven years and opted to crowdfund its plans to develop protected reserves in the west Highlands to support buying land and expanding existing fieldwork.

One of the biggest fears for the species is how it has hybridised into the feral cat gene pool. Scientists have attempted to solve that by neutering feral cat populations, and so far the project has almost 500 square miles of threat-free safe haven for the animals.

Project workers say this is a desperately needed lifeline for the estimated 35 Scottish wildcats left in the world.

“Partnering with landowners is critical to creating a haven large enough to home a sustainable population of wildcats,” said the chief scientific adviser of the project, Dr Paul O’Donoghue. “But amongst these landscapes we need reserves where the wildcat is the absolute priority – oases acting as strongholds for wildcat populations that can never be developed, deforested or covered in windmills.”

The group wants to reforest these reserves and manage them to remove invasive plant species, creating a natural Caledonian forest ecosystem where wildcats can thrive. Prey species and other natives will be encouraged, but non-natives such as feral cats will be kept out. Wildcat Haven has borrowed a model from commercial sponsor Highland Titles, a gift company that sells micro plots of land in its nature reserves allowing any landowner to style themselves as a laird or lady.

Company chairman Peter Bevis said: “It’s a bit of fun, being laird of an estate, even if the estate is only a square foot of land.

“The important thing is that now all those square feet will add up to reserves and the resources to save the wildcat, driving fieldwork like feral cat neutering. Our supporters have always recognised that their purchase has value far beyond simply owning a small piece of Scotland. People like to buy gifts that do some good, and I can’t think of a better cause than the wildcat.”

Highland Titles has sponsored Wildcat Haven for the past three years and is now offering the expertise and funding for it to sell micro-plots in the planned network of wildcat reserves.

O’Donoghue added: “Owning dedicated wildcat reserves is the kind of thing we’ve always wanted to do, but never had the resources to achieve.”

Plots are available from £30.