Galloway Forest Park – Red Deer and Wild Goats
A few hours.
The route
The Queen's Way crosses the Galloway Forest Park through moor, loch and forest, and two of its stops are given over to the park's big animals.
At the Red Deer Range a hide looks out over a herd of red deer, and a little further west the Wild Goat Park keeps a herd of the old feral goats of the Galloway hills. Both are free.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
The Queen's Way
A quiet morning by the road through the forest park, watching red deer from the hide and then the wild goats on their hillside. Bring binoculars and boots.
About two hours
Galloway Red Deer Range
The Galloway Red Deer Range is on the north side of the A712, the Queen's Way, in the Galloway Forest Park between Newton Stewart and New Galloway; the nearest postcode is DG8 7BL. Both car parks are free in the daytime. The upper one, with its entrance 250 yards west of the lower, leads straight to the hide, and the larger lower one is a short, steep walk below. About 25 red deer live on the range, and the viewing area and hide are open every day, all year, and free. Buzzards and small birds come to the hide's feeding station too. In autumn the stags rut, and Forestry and Land Scotland holds a Rutting Week of drop-in ranger events: its Red Deer Range page gives the dates. There are no toilets here. Ticks live in the long grass, so check for them afterwards, and keep dogs on a lead.
4 min by car
Wild Goat Park
It's 4 minutes' drive west along the A712 to the Wild Goat Park, with a free car park and toilets. About 50 British Primitive goats live in a large enclosure on the hillside here, and several hundred more roam wild in the Galloway hills. They move about the enclosure, so they may be out of sight when you arrive: give them a little time. It's free and open all year.
If it rains
The hide at the Red Deer Range gives shelter, and the deer and goats live out in all weathers. Bring waterproofs and give the goats a little longer in mist.
Photographs by Stephanie Hilbrandt, M H and David Gable via Google