A boar-ing day? I don’t think so!

I apologise for the late blog post, but better late than
never! On the 22nd of October, several members of the Mammal Group met in the depths of the Forest Of Dean to embark on a wild boar walkabout. Wild boar ecologist Dr. John  Dutton very kindly agreed to lead us around the area, to look for signs of wild boar.

Wild Boar Track

Sadly we did not encounter any live wild boar (some members found a road casualty after the walk though), but there was an abundance of evidence!

Andy helpfully pointing out a gouge on a tree. Probably ‘tusking’ by boar.

Wild boar mud wallow.

This included tracks, mud wallows, mud up trees (a scratch following a nice wallow) and hair. Boar hair is pretty distinctive, it interestingly sports a ‘split end’….. obviously not using the right shampoo then!

All in all though, it was a lovely autumnal day, spent in a nice stretch of woodland with like minded folk. The day ended with grub in the newly re-furbed cafe at Beechenhurst.

A big thank you to Dr. John Dutton for leading the walk, and to all those that came along. I hope to see most of you soon at one of our next events.