When I went down to the woods today I was in for a big surprise - a small pack of young wild boar. These photo's were actually taken at an RSPB bird sanctuary (hence the title).
The Forest of Dean is home to several hundred of these boar which are generally allowed to roam anywhere they can.
There 'rooting' actions can do a lot of good for rejuvenating the forest undergrowth and allowing new growth to form but when numbers are too high they can start to cause damage to grass land including pavement verges, sports fields and lawns.
Wild Boar originally roamed this area hundreds of years ago but were quickly wiped out by hunting. These boar are not the original strain and escaped from a farm some years ago. Since then their numbers have grown and a program of culling is underway to control their numbers.
They split local opinion as to whether they are a good or bad thing to have in the area. There are reports of people being attacked by adult boars but this is often when the young are being protected or the pack have been fed by people and lose their natural wariness.
As population growth proves, they survive quite well on what they can forage from the forest floor including fungi, roots, beetles etc..
Strangely enough there are many people living locally who have never seen a wild boar in the area.
I was informed that they were mainly night scavengers but this is the fourth time I've seen them in the afternoon.
