I'm not kidding – goats in Inverness!

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Published: 18 February, 2010

THE last time I wrote about wild goats in the Highlands in this Country Diary was around five years ago, so it is interesting to see what has happened since then.

The subject came up because of a reader contacting me about goats around Inverness and whether there are or had been any on the Black Isle, just north of Inverness.

I have seen a number of tribes of wild goats around Inverness, including one on the Black Isle I regularly used to visit and photograph, as well as counting the number of billies, nannies and kids and noting the variation in colours.

Other tribes have been near Farr, Coignafearn, Inverfarigaig and Moy, all of which have had a chequered history to say the least. There were also reports, quite recently, of goats in Glen Strathfarrar but these I am told were the result of a release of domestic goats in one of the nearby straths.

To understand the distribution of goats in the Highlands in the last few decades is to go back into their history. Their heyday was undoubtedly in the middle of the 18th century when there were so many goats in the Highlands the numbers are hard to credit.

Some parishes had over 1,000 goats and hundreds were the norm for many years.

There is so much coverage in the media about cattle being driven south to the market that the droving of goats in the opposite direction, mainly from Ireland, is largely forgotten or overlooked.

These would have been sold and some moved right up to the north coasts of Caithness and Sutherland. The problem for the goat drovers was that the further north they went, the wilder the terrain. This meant the goats often wandered off and were never rounded up and so various tribes came into being.

This heyday ended with the clearances when many goats were killed, whilst many "escaped" into the surrounding hills.

Where people were allowed on the land after the clearances, and yes there were some, there were strict rules about how many horses and cows could be kept. One overlying "condition" was that no goats whatsover could be kept for a variety of reasons.

It has been a way of life that went forever as there was perhaps no more useful animal in the old days than goats. They supplied meat, milk, skins, horns etc and they did not need feeding as they could just forage, as those that are left manage today.

The next stages for the wild goats were in the two world wars when food was at a premium and goats were shot and in many cases whole tribes were shot out completely.

Local officers stationed nearby are reputed to have shot out the ones on Brin Cliff, south of Inverness.

On the Black Isle there was a tribe between Rosemarkie and Cromarty and they were shot out by Norwegian troops stationed in the district.

Kenneth Whitehead's book Wild goats of Britain and Ireland, published in 1972, states that these were not the only ones on the Black Isle, as there was another tribe in the Culbo area of the Forestry Commission ground, but they had gone.

This was the pattern with many areas taken over by the Forestry Commission as goats are just not compatible with trees, in fact even worse than deer if that is possible.

Now here is a mystery as the goats I watched on the Black Isle were based around the Munlochy Cliff. Where did they come from, as there seems to be no records of them? Did they move along from Rosemarkie cliffs whilst they were being shot or were they always there and just overlooked?

It would be very interesting to know, as they are one of the very few unrecorded tribes. They in turn have been shot and occasionally a domestic goat has been turned out with them.

If any reader knows the current status of them around Munlochy Cliff I would be grateful for any information. Email me on rvc@tesco.net or telephone 01809 521256 - any information will, if necessary, be kept confidential.

The present situation is grim to say the least and the numbers in the Highlands, particularly in the south east, are the lowest they have been for many years.

Tribes of wild goats, in recent years, have been shot out by a number of estates for various reasons. This includes the perceived, rather than real, threat they pose to red grouse by the ticks.

It is difficult to know where all this trend will end, if it does. What is needed is another book purely on wild or feral goats, as some people prefer to call them. As far as I am aware, apart from general books on mammals, such as the admirable classic 4th edition Handbook of Mammals of the British Isles, published in 2008, no up-to date monograph on wild goats has been written since Kenneth Whitehead's book, so one is long overdue.

* The event of the week, if that is the right word, is the realisation that it will not be too far away before the first frog's spawn is laid.

Despite the weather there have been a few tentative signs of spring. The earlier pussy willows - the dates depend on the species - are now glistening silver.

Tawny owls have been calling for some time and the "teachering" notes of the great tits are widespread. More on the first dates for frog's spawn next week, so keep your eyes and ears open.

http://www.highland-news.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/7041/I_m_not_kidding__96_goats_in_Inverness!.html
(Submitted by Lindsay Selby)