There could be as many as 900 goats roaming the local moorland
There has been a great deal of ongoing discussion over the past few months about the goats of Langholm and Newcastleton Hills as petitions go through parliament this week asking for their protection to be considered within Scottish Law.
There have been lots of population figures circulating about the number of goats on the moor since Oxygens cull in April which mentioned 124 goats on their landholding, this has caused confusion about how many there really are. They are notoriously difficult to count as they are so mobile regularly moving across 25 – 30,000 acres of often rough and remote hill ground.
Over the past few months, Tarras Valley Nature Reserve have been working to get a better understanding of their numbers and as well as their impact on the ground. Their staff and volunteers have been doing goat population counts using a mix of vantage point survey, on foot counts, infra-red drone, ecologist survey time as well as local knowledge.
Read much more in this week’s E&L available at your Newsagent or available online by subscription. Click HERE
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