With the summer holidays now in full swing the team from ‘Save Haggis In Tourist Areas’ (SHITA) have issued their annual warning to visitors to the region that may not fully understand how to behave in Haggis breeding grounds.
Spokesperson for SHITA – Dr C Moorebul, stated “The scottish tourist season reaches it’s peak in the period between late July and August, this is when Haggi are at their most dangerous, due to be being highly protective of their newly hatched Hagglets.
This summer has been a very succesful breeding year in Dumfries and Galloway and some pairs of Haggi ( Haggi mate for life) have produced a second batch of hagglets already.
Every year we issue a warning to the public to take care in Haggis sensitive areas or (HSA’s) as at this time of year the Haggis can be active, even during daylight hours.
If you spot a brood while you are out and about exploring, please do keep a safe distance and keep your dogs on a lead at all times!
The usual signs that you may be near a Haggis brood is when you see clouds of midges hovering around (Midges are highly atracted to Haggis droppings).
Dumfries and Galloway is famous for many breeds of different Haggi, including the famous Belti Haggis, with it’s left legs shorter than the right ones, so it can run around hills. The Dalbeattie Grey, whith its grey fur that makes it hard to spot in the granite outcrops in that area. The Dumfries Red Common (Comyn) Haggi (Main Image), these are an urban breed and can be sometimes spotted foraging very late at night in Dumfries town centre. Plus several other variations including the Coastal Haggi, that realy thrive in the Stranraer area, these are rarely seen, but sometimes when there is a full moon they can be spotted playing in the light on the calm water of Loch Ryan.”
Scientists from the Scottish Centre have produced a paper titled ‘Scottish Centre Research of all Things’ (SCROAT) have de-bunked the myth that Haggi are frightened away by playing bagpipe music, in-fact they have proved the opposite, and it has been discovered that Haggi are quite keen on a bit of pipe music and it seems to sooth and calm them.
So if your heading out and about over the next few weeks please do stay safe always make sure you have access to some bagpipe music and take care folks.
Text Written By RB. (Copyright DGWGO 18/07/19)
