Britain’s ‘loneliest sheep’ rescued after two years at foot of cliff

A ewe that was hailed Britain’s loneliest sheep has been rescued by a group of farmers from a remote shingle beach in the Scottish Highlands.

The sheep, called Fiona and wearing a huge fleece, had been stranded at the foot of cliffs on the Cromarty Firth for at least two years, with an animal welfare charity having deemed rescue attempts “incredibly complex”.

But five farmers managed to haul her up a steep slope, and now plan to deliver her to a farm park.

The rescue mission was organised by Cammy Wilson, a sheep shearer from Ayrshire and a presenter on the BBC’s Landward programme, after seeing media coverage of Fiona’s plight.

Speaking in a video posted on Facebook, he said: “We’ve come up here with some heavy equipment and we’ve got this sheep up an incredibly steep slope.

“She’s in incredible condition. She is about a condition score of about 4.5, she is over-fat – it was some job lifting her up that slope.

“She is going to a very special place that a lot of you know very well, where you’ll be able to see her virtually every day.”

Jillian Turner first spotted the sheep two years ago while she was paddling along the coast of Sutherland with her kayak club. She assumed the sheep would make it back to wherever home was by itself and thought no more of it.

When she took the same journey again recently she was horrified to see the same animal.

Recalling her first sighting of the sheep, Turner told the Northern Times: “About half a mile before turning into the Cromarty Firth we spotted a sheep on a shingle beach at the bottom of some steep, rocky coastline.

“She saw us coming and was calling to us along the length of the beach following our progress until she could go no further. She finally turned back, looking defeated.”

The sighting made an impression on Turner and she couldn’t quite believe it when she saw the same sheep on the recent trip.

“She called out on our approach and once again followed the group along the shore jumping from rock to rock, calling to us the whole way,” Turner said.

The sheep’s fleece was “huge” and touching the ground at the back, she said, with Turner describing the experience as “heart-rending”.

“We honestly thought she might make her way back up that first year. The poor ewe has been on her own for at least two years. For a flock animal that has to be torture, and she seemed desperate to make contact with us on the two occasions we’ve gone past her.”

Turner had tried to organise help from various agencies, to no avail.

“I contacted the Cairngorm mountain rescue team who were very sympathetic but can’t take any action unless given a shout from an emergency service such as the police or fire brigade,” she said.

“I also contacted the SSPCA (Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and the call handler was sympathetic, but an inspector got back to me and indicated that the sheep was known to them but was not in any danger.”