Forest of Dean Snow and Wild Boar

Wasn't going to venture out today, but my friend popped by with his 4x4 and this was all the encouragement I required to get my butt out the door.
We started off taking a look at some of our local lakes and ponds. All were virtually frozen solid, except for some clear areas near the shallows.

What shocked us, was the amount of "human" activity we could see on the ice. I am amazed that there are people still willing to risk their lives, especially after all the warnings!

Click images for lager size...


Lightmoor pond.



The following 4 are from Steam Mills Lake.

Two coots and a gull.

The water must be too cold!

We then moved on into the forest where we came across this print. Do you know what made it?

The print is facing forward, but look to the rear and you will see to indentations in the snow, at either side.

These were formed by dew claws, which can be found on various animals, including wild boar.

We decided to try out our tracking skills in the snow.

It wasn't long before we found our first one. Can you see her?

How about now?

Here they are. I only had my wide angle lens with me and this was taken at 55mm. Won't be making that mistake again!

However, I did take my video camera. Enjoy.

Rob

The Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review

I have contacted the editor of the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review to comment and hopefully get an article published, sticking up for the wild boar, instead of condemning it.

The article I am refering to is from page 5 of, Volume 29, No 24, week ending 12th June 2009.


Here is my reply.....

To the editor,

I am writing in response to your article featuring the wild boar, Vol29, No24, WE: 12th June 2009.
Hopefully you will see fit to publish my views. My name is Robin Ward, I am 40 years old and I live in Cinderford in the Forest of Dean. I am a company Director and I have lived in the Dean all my life.
It saddens me when people make assumptions about certain species just because they don't fit in like the rest of our wildlife. Take the wild boar and the snake for instance. I have been photographing our native snakes for many years and I took my first wild boar photograph back in 2006. Since then I have had many encounters with them, sometimes on their own and sometimes with their young, but not once have I encountered an aggressive one! I am passionate about all our wildlife, I also believe that everything has a right to live and that we should not condemn and persecute without obtaining the facts. When people make assumptions like, if I were a child, it would have stood no chance! This is just another nail in the wild boar's coffin, how can anyone make this assumption? The boar sees dogs as a threat, not humans. They are inquisitive and have poor eyesight, only being able to distinguish blue from the three primary colours, so when they see something large walking through the forest, they have to get close to see what it is and if there is something roughly the same size as them on all fours (your dog), then yes they could see it as a threat, especially if they have young present.
The boar, which supposedly charged Mr. ??? would have been trotting up to check him and his dogs out. I have experienced this many times and I have even captured it on video, see link below. There has been a sow and three piglets in the woods where Mr. ??? saw the boar recently, she has been spotted on numerous occasions and I wouldn't be surprised if this was the boar that he saw. I have attached a photograph of her ((c) Robin Ward), taken by me only 2 weeks ago in the same place as Mr. ??? saw his.
I can understand peoples concerns as it is a species, which has not roamed our forests since the 17th Century and people don't know what to expect, but like any wild animal in the Forest of Dean, treat them with respect and leave well alone.
I agree that they will require managing like the fallow deer as they have no natural predators, but the Forestry Commission already manage the deer, so there should be no issue there? I have also attached a few more of my photographs, all from the Forest of Dean. Hopefully you will be able to put together a nice piece, rejoicing our wildlife?
I am also an external writer for BBC Gloucestershire on their nature section, having 8 articles published to date. See BBC wild boar link below. Wild boar video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPlg2oTfKKM Link to my BBC feature: http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2007/11/22/wild_boar_feature.shtml

It's not a sin to love wildlife, we need it to survive!



Kind Regards

Robin Ward

Wild Boar Sow (Sus scrofa)

He she is, sadly I missed the little ones!

Wild Boar in the Forest of Dean (Video)

A fantastic encounter with a large sow and her piglets.

Wild Boar

Here are some wild boar (sus scrofa) taken in the Forest of Dean in 2008. Not a great photo, but any pic of wild boar is keeper.

There was a big female , but she kept herself hidden and it wasn't long before she moved the rest of the sounder (group) on.

I tracked them for around a mile before they decided that they had enough of me and moved out of the area.

Notice the big scar on the male in the bottom pic? There are quite a few critics that say the wild boar are unhealthy and are diseased! If this boar was unhealthy and diseased it would not have recovered from a wound like this, probably inflicted in a domestic fight. Male boar do not breed until they are 4 years old so it is unlikely it was caused through territorial fighting.

As soon as males reaches sexual maturity the females drive them out of the sounder, the males then live a life alone, only returning to sounders to breed.

I have seen quite a few in my time, the largest sounder contained between 25 - 30 adults, this was at night near Speech House. This may sound exaggerated, but I can assure you it isn't and I have a witness who was with me that night, who also couldn't believe his eyes.

Check out my link to an article I wrote for the BBC about the wild boar at the very bottom of this page.