One of the wildest places in the UK is the forest of dean. This is not particularly wild, but work is ongoing in rewilding (though obviously, as yet the reintroduction of any predators is a long-distance aim). The initial rewilding of boar is thought to have occurred as an unofficial reintroduction in 1999 (this is not the first wild living wild boar in the UK in recent times, with a large group escaping after the 89 hurricane). Other species being introduced include beavers and pine martens.
We try to head there for at least a weekend, each year. This was that. We joined other friends, in the forest. Mostly, it was a family weekend away – in a wild place and looking out for wildlife but with small children its not quite the same.
Never-the-less, on Saturday, we went for an evening drive. We did indeed find a wild boar- unfortunately it was a fleeting sighting, with the wild boar disappearing back into the forest, too fast, even for the other person in the car to get to see it.
Still, I consider it a mix of luck, alongside my (I hope) reasonable skills in finding wildlife, and my local knowledge. For any who have seen it, I have put together a video of the wild beavers in Devon, and have been looking for some video footage of the boar in the forest of dean. I think I may well make do with a group of images that we have from a previous encounter.
Still, this weekend encapsulates our aims with “in the shadow of mankind” a weekend in a wild place. Few of our activities were around wildlife, but all our money went to businesses that were around the wild boar. With some progress, they will recognize the benefit they get from living near wild boar. I have been putting off making a video on boar until I had boar video, but may well put together something without it – if that happens, I will link on this website.
If you live near wildlife, or work in any capacity around wildlife (running places to stay, wildlife guide etc) do list your services on the page listed under “list your wild”. This will produce your page, and we will then upload it in a number of places on the website