Have You Seen The Local Wild Goats? – April 2024

Have You Seen The Local Wild Goats?

When you stay at Gors-lwyd, there is a high chance you will see the local wild goats at some point in your visit.

The goats have always been around this area, especially on the higher slopes near Nant Gwrtheyrn and Trefor. We didn’t really see many goats, up until Covid. The lockdowns resulted in less and less people around the village and so the goats became much more bolder and they started to walk among us…!

We often see them in the village (and our gardens!), and guests have even commented that the goats have been peering through the kitchen window at Gors-lwyd!

They are harmless, they are bold and they do tend to wander around in groups.

They have a distinct pelage – a pale brown colour – and are distinctively smaller in stature than other goat populations in Snowdonia, and their horns are huge!

They have recently been the subject of the Nant Gwrtheyrn Feral Goat Monitoring Project. This was because the goat population had notably increased and there needed to be baseline data and observations made before any mitigating measures could be put in place.

In 2021, The Project installed ten wildlife cameras dotted around Nant Gwrtheyrn. These were featured on BBC Countryfile and Matt Baker placed one of the cameras near the boundary at Caffi Meinir. Several animals were recorded and as well as the wild goats they recorded badgers, foxes, grey squirrels, mice and birds. The monitoring has continued with the use of drones and AI imaging – although the terrain makes it difficult to record the goats’ locations accurately.

So, if you see the wild goats in the village, or by Gors-lwyd, remember that they are wild and they haven’t escaped from a farm or field. They wander far and wide and are an unusual site – make sure you capture them on camera – it’s something you don’t see every day!

Image courtesy of Claire Oxley Lang – thank you Claire!