Wild Boar Response Printed

Well the Review printed my response to the wild boar article from paper WE: 26th June 2009.
Hope you all agree with me, that our wildlife needs to be protected not destroyed?
By using a child as an example and by saying that the boar could have broken his legs, all this gentleman did was to incite more hatred towards the boar, as both comments were assumptions and the word assumption should not exist as it is relating to details, which are NOT fact!
The wild boar are always going to be controversial, but we can share our forests with them, without incident if we all remember they are wild animals and treat them with respect.
If a fallow buck in full antler or an adder was spotted by a member of the public, they would stop and stare and remember their memorable moment for years to come.
The fallow buck and the adder have more potential to kill a human than the wild boar, it's just that people are used to them and they are not often seen.
Over time and if managed correctly, this will happen to the boar, it just needs time.

I wonder how many dogs chase the deer around the forest, with the owners looking on and not giving a thought for the deer?

Rob

New Snake Video

A new and improved snake video. All snakes taken by me in the Forest of Dean.

Don't forget to turn the volume up!

Enjoy!

Adder Video Footage

Lovely weather for reptiles today at New Fancy, although too hazy to see the Gos. Saw three male adult adders, a juvenile female adder and a common lizard on the walk up to the viewpoint, see video footage of a male adder at the bottom of this post.



My best encounter of the day was with a Roe Deer Buck in Speech House woods, sorry for the blurry pic, but it was a grab shot, tried getting a little too close! See pic below. Wish I had filmed him now!

Roe Deer Buck

Male Adder Close Up

Sightings - March 2nd 2009

New Fancy, no pics today as I was there viewing only.

I x male adder (first sighting this year) on the walk up to the main viewpoint

4 x Goshawk displaying

4 - 6 Buzzards

6+ Fallow deer in the felled area

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A sparrowhawk, Hawfinch (by feeders) and around 10 Gos were spotted earlier in the day, but alas I missed them.

Female Adder (Vipera berus)

Here are a few pics of a female adder (Vipera berus) taken in the Forest of Dean in 2008. I try to get as many different angles as possible to show the detail of these beautiful snakes.

Having a relaxing time on a low tree branch.

Here she is concentrating on photographers Paul Skelton and Andy Carey.

A perfect example of the V marking on the back of the adder's head.

Ever wanted to see an adder up close? Here you go, don't touch the screen, she may bite!