It is a picture-postcard scene that you only expect to see on a quiet country road.
But yesterday, a flock of sheep caused a commotion when they escaped from a garden in a central Inverness residential area.
Eight sheep managed to break out from the back garden of a property in Drummond Road and run out onto the street, not far from the crossroads with Culduthel Road, at about 2pm.
Traffic was held up initially and motorists at the scene reported that one sheep decided to hop over an adjacent fence into a grassy area in Ault-na-Skiach dell, before the others followed.
Last night the flock’s owner, who preferred not to be named, said that she has been holding orphan lambs before they join the rest of the flock on the hill at the weekend.
She added: “They are quite lucky but that’s what sheep do – they try to get out of the pen.
“It happens with deer on that road as well, so people should be aware and make sure they stick to the speed limit.”
Dell trustee Steve Rowan, of neighbouring Glenburn Drive, went to investigate yesterday afternoon after a neighbour caught up in the hold-up phoned to alert him.
Mr Rowan said: “My neighbour had stopped with other cars because sheep were on the road but when I got down they had made their way into the dell. They must have decided there was something worthwhile eating in there.
“I just wanted to make sure we kept them off the road and I called the SSPCA, and a gentleman came down and was trying to verify where the owners were.
“The man who came down lured them with some feed. He took the sheep through the gate and back to the garden.”
At the scene yesterday the shepherd, understood to be the owner’s father, said: “I don’t know how they got out. The sheep are just about to go on 1,000 acres of hill. She (the owner) had a holding order for having them here.”
Neighbour Kate Traill, of Scotsburn House, was walking her dogs when she noticed the sheep on the road and went back down to help unblock it, but by that point the animals had jumped the fence.
She added: “Steve Rowan was helping deal with the sheep liberation front and they all willingly returned when the feed was put in front of them. They are all safe and that’s the main thing.”
