Nuclear physics in the 21^st century is driven by a quest to understand the properties of ever more exotic nuclear systems. Unusual structural phenom- ena are observed to arise in light weakly bound nuclei such as ⁸Li. ⁸Li has a cluster structure core of ⁷Li surrounded by a loosely bound neutron which is observed to influence reaction mechanisms near the fusion barrier. Elastic scat- tering provides a vital step towards understanding more complicated reaction mechanisms. In this work, elastic scattering was measured for ⁸Li + ²°⁹Bi at energies 2% to 34% above the barrier, allowing extraction of reaction cross- sections. The systematics of the reaction cross-sections of ⁸Li compared to neighbouring nuclei ^6,7,9,11Li are discussed.