ON A WILD GOAT CHASE
Their huge horns and wizardly beards are nothing short of magical, but you might just need to employ a little alchemy if you want to a spot a wild goat in Scotland, says Cal Flyn
Cal Flyn goes in search of Scotland's wild goats
In 1306, fresh from defeat at the Battle of Dalrigh, Robert the Bruce fled south along the banks of Loch Lomond, closely pursued by his enemies. Legend has it that he sheltered from advancing troops in a cave near Inversnaid, and shortly after a small group of feral goats lay down in front of the cave’s entrance – thus concealing it, and allowing the fugitive king to escape.
Much has changed in Scotland during the intervening centuries, but the goats remain – in Inversnaid and in various other strongholds in remote spots around the country. Keen hikers may be familiar with the goats who roam wild as deer through the Highlands and Islands: they’re a ragtag crowd with shaggy hair in black and dun, patched with white, or sun-bleached.
Males and females are crowned with the most remarkable horns – ridged and heavy, curved like scimitars – and a wizardly appearance, with long flowing beards and piercing pale eyes which have square pupils.
The origins of Scotland’s goats are somewhat mysterious, but they are thought to be the descendants of domesticated animals set loose (or escaped), probably during the time of the Highland Clearances – and perhaps long before. Long naturalised, the goats are now considered wild animals.
‘Feral goats do not need shearing as sheep do, and they give birth independently without much need for human intervention,’ says Tiffany Francis-Baker, author of British Goats, a fascinating compendium of knowledge published in July. ‘They are also excellent climbers, and can live happily in hard-to-reach places that humans rarely visit.’
They certainly can. The last time I came across a herd of goats in the wild was while walking the Five Sisters of Kintail; a half-dozen, including a mother and kid, clambered out onto a vertiginous outcrop of rock, where they clung like gargoyles to watch our approach – apparently entirely without fear.
If you haven’t been fortunate enough to view the goats roaming wild yet, this is the best time of year to spot them as they move from the high tops onto lower ground, to shelter from the worst of the winter weather and give birth to their young. Indeed, they have become so common around the roads of Kintail and Shiel Bridge – including the fast moving A87 – that the National Trust for Scotland has raised the possibility
of ‘managing’ their numbers by way of a cull or the use of contraceptive injections.
Such measures, always controversial, were used against the historic herd of Inversnaid back in 2013 when the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds decided that overgrazing was endangering rare flora at a site of special scientific interest at nearby Pollochro. The cull – intended to bring the population there from 60-plus down to 30 – attracted a great deal of critical attention from the public.
But despite their popularity – and their long tenure, which some suggest may stretch back to Neolithic times – the feral goats are officially classed as an invasive non-native species, and therefore legal to hunt on private land throughout the year. Somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 feral goats are thought to live in scattered populations around the whole of the UK, and several Scottish companies offer the chance to stalk and shoot goats in parts of the country where they are considered a pest – including on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula.
American hunter Larysa Switlyk made headlines in October 2018 following just such a hunt, when she posted a photo of herself posing with the body of a billy goat on Islay, boasting of having made a ‘perfect 200-yard shot’ and describing the hunt as ‘such fun’. The image, and the tone of her message, prompted social media outrage and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also expressed her concerns. The government later announced that while ‘culling of animals is a necessary part of sustainable land management’, the environment secretary would be making a review of the laws around hunting goats in response to the uproar.
Alternative methods of control are used in the southwest of the country, where the Galloway Wild Goat Park, run by Forestry and Land Scotland, offers visitors the chance to view feral goats at close quarters. A 50-hectare, two-metrehigh enclosure was built in the Galloway Forest Park in the 1970s, and now serves as home to around 30 goats (several hundred more roam the surrounding hills). But though contained, ‘we have tried ear tagging in the past, but they are experts in shedding them’, a spokesperson for the agency explained. ‘Mature males tend to live in a group, and likewise the females and kids would live in their own groups. There would tend
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Feral goats in the wild are extremely elusive and difficult to observe for long periods of time
to be a leader in each group, normally an older beast.
‘Feral goats in the wild are extremely elusive and difficult to observe for long periods of time,’ Francis-Baker adds. ‘But most domesticated goat breeds are thought to live in herd hierarchies, with a “herd queen” who gets the first choice of food and sleeping space. Like most ungulate species, they show a high level of social organisation which allows better protection from predators.’
Their mysterious origins and unknown lineage means they have not generally been considered valuable by goat breeders, but that might be changing. ‘There is now a Rare Breed Goats group calling to protect our feral goats, also known as British Primitives, as an important breed for conservation grazing and scrub clearance, as well as their deep ancestral connection with the British landscape.’ For more information about their campaign, see rarebreedgoats.co.uk.
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We have tried ear tagging in the past, but they are experts in shedding them