"The coastal road around Clew Bay, in Co Mayo, takes a last twist north beyond the village of Mulranny to sidle on narrowly beside the Nephin hills. Here, among shrubby thickets of 'Mediterranean' heather Erica erigena, occasional glimpses of scimitar horns and fierce Talibanic profiles remind me that, among Ireland's wildlife, the feral goat has claims to be one of the oldest and wildest of mammals."