One by one: The lone wolves of the animal kingdom

In 2023 Fiona, Britain’s loneliest sheep, was rescued from below cliffs in Cromarty in the Highlands of Scotland after spending two years on her own. She has since found socialising with other ewes difficult. Sheep, of course, are naturally flocking animals, but a surprising number of British species live their lives almost entirely alone. The famously co-operative honeybee is, in fact, an exception among its kind. The vast majority of bees — as many as 250 out of the 270 UK species — are solitary, including the delightfully named ashy mining bee (Andrena cineraria), the wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) and the hairy-footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes). Solitary bees nest in the ground or in ready-made spaces, such as beetle holes, and their species are the ones most likely to use manmade bee hotels. Single rooms only, of course.

Several British mammals like a walk on the wild side by themselves. These include muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). The latter form loose groupings in the winter, yet generally live alone and even red deer, commonly thought of as living in large herds in the Highlands, are inclined to solitariness when in woodland habitat. At the other end of the scale, our smallest carnivore, the weasel (Mustela nivalis), keeps its own company throughout its short, two-year life, only coming together to procreate. Its much larger mustelid cousin, the otter (Lutra lutra), is another that generally wants to be alone, apart from the necessity of mating and bringing up cubs. The loner animal is immortalised by Rudyard Kipling in his Just So story of the cat who makes a pact with humans, but remains ever aloof: ‘I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.’

Around the world, about a quarter of mammals are solitary, including fearsome hunters, such as the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) and the polar bear (Ursus maritimus), who stand a greater chance of success if they operate alone. Animals adopt solitary living for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, it is the best way to survive in harsh environments where food resources are scarce. If, like the slow-moving brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus), you depend on camouflage, it’s best to avoid sharing the same tree and being more obvious to predators.

For humans, our success has come from our ability to hunt, farm and work collectively. We are tribal and sociable by nature. Yet — perhaps because of our tendency to crowd together — many of us find a distinct and special appeal in being alone, at least temporarily. Solitude, as opposed to loneliness, is a choice deliberately made ‘in health of body, peace of mind,’ as Alexander Pope wrote in his 1700 Ode on Solitude. Thus, he says, might one find that ‘hours, days, and years slide soft away’.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the greatest exponents of the pleasures of being alone in Nature, the Romantic poets, came along at the same time as industrialisation and urbanisation was bringing more people into crammed city spaces. William Wordsworth extolled the ‘bliss of solitude’ and, of course, liked to wander lonely as a cloud — a simile that, if thought about for too long, makes little sense. Clouds, on the whole, have a tendency to join up, especially above the Lake District.

For centuries, the best-known seekers of solitude were hermits, a tradition found in every religion, where ‘the individual is advised to withdraw, separate from the world, in order to achieve inner peace,’ says Robert Rodriguez, author of The Book of Hermits. One who took this to the extreme is Simeon Stylites, the 5th-century Syrian ascetic reputed to have lived for 37 years atop a pillar near Aleppo, Syria. Other frequently painted hermit saints include Jerome — depicted either in the wilderness or alone in his study by Giovanni Bellini, Hieronymus Bosch, Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer — and Paul of Thebes, who lived alone in the desert to the age of 113. No wonder the typical representation of a hermit is of an elderly man with a long grey beard, but perhaps being alone is more appreciated later in life. Einstein wrote of living in solitude ‘which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity’, whereas French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was against solitude in youth, advising that, combined with reading, idleness and a soft and sedentary life, it is a perilous path that will lead an adolescent into danger.

Today, more young people seem to be inclined to seek out the pleasures of solitude, with those aged 44 and under being the fastest-growing age group of solo travellers, according to travel organisation ABTA. Hector Hughes, 31, was inspired to start up Unplugged, his off-grid breaks business, after a 10-day silent retreat in the Himalayas. His company offers the busy and the stressed the chance to step away from modern life, lock away their smartphones and immerse themselves in the natural world in isolated rural cabins. ‘Almost one-fifth of our customers come on their own and have said they feel refreshed, recharged and proud of themselves for spending three days in solitude,’ he says.

For writer, geologist and therapist Ruth Allen, solo journeys offer ‘valuable time to think and feel uninterrupted, to reconnect with the shape of me beneath the noise’. Digging into the language of rocks she describes the difference between loneliness and solitude as being like that of erosion and weathering. ‘Loneliness is like erosion, severe and undermining, whereas solitude is more akin to the weathering of rock by natural forces such as wind and water: something more progressively shaping.’

This feature originally appeared in the August 27, 2025, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe