Sitting in the Pentland Firth, off the northern tip of mainland Scotland, the small island of Swona was abandoned by its final residents – three elderly siblings – in 1974, writes Cal Flyn.
Before they left, they released their cattle to graze the grassy sward, assuming they or their family would shortly return to care for them. But nobody came back, and the livestock have since roamed free, living feral on the island and surviving many a wild winter with no supplementary food.
- How many islands are there in the UK?
- Snake Island, Anthrax Island and beyond: 9 deadly Islands you'd be a fool to visit...
In the absence of husbandry, the cattle are unusual in that they live in a mixed-sex herd and behave in a similar way to wild horses or deer: the bulls fight for dominance – the loser is exiled to a small headland.
- Przewalski’s horse: meet the world's only true wild horse, which now roams Mongolia
- Prehistoric aurochs are back from extinction - and they could be coming to the UK
The cows are now considered to have become sufficiently genetically distinct to comprise a new breed. In winter, they shelter inside the ruined buildings that dot the island, many of which have lain empty for 100 years.
Swona is also now home to thousands of seabirds, including puffins, who burrow into the steep green hillside, and Arctic terns, which gather each year in a vast colony in the island’s northern reaches, laying their eggs on the churned up ground.
