A DAREDEVIL goat made a great escape from the Highwoods Country Park in Colchester in a bid to find pastures new.

One of the beloved and now iconic country park goats enjoyed a brief lunch of a new variety after jumping over the enclosure fence.

The goat was able to freely roam around the nearby area for a short period of time enjoying munching some ivy in the fence along the lane before park rangers turned up to return it back to its field.

Camera Club member and witness Shiela Winwright was on the scene to capture some images as the goat enjoyed its brief period of freedom.

She observed the park rangers expertly lead the goat back into the field, as all the other goats came up the hill to greet him and find out about his short adventure on the other side of the fence.

The Cheviot goats, with huge horns and  marbled coats, were introduced to the country park in October.

The stunning herd has become a popular sight for visitors including Colchester Gazette Camera Club's keen amateur photographers.

The goats were enlisted to help support Colchester Council’s restoration of a wildflower meadow at Farthing Bottom Field.

The scheme is part of the authority’s Colchester Woodland and Biodiversity Project, which will see the goat herd live – and work – at the site for the next three years.

Although a popular attraction, visitors to the country park are asked not to approach or feed the goats.

The council has also asked visitors not to walk dogs through the field.

A Colchester Council spokesperson said: “One of our goats did manage to escape the field but our park rangers responded immediately and managed the situation well, returning him calmy and safely to his field.

 “The goats have a ‘geo fence’, created by their collars, which deters them from getting too close to the fence.

"In this isolated instance, there was a fault with one collar, which has now been fixed.”