Forest of Dean

Forest of Dean - Boar Watching

The Forest of Dean is perhaps one of the biggest and healthiest woodlands within the UK.

Part of this is down to its significant population of wild boar.

Before humans hunted wild boar to extinction, they were a highly important part of our ecosystem, and generally woodlands in the UK show their absence.

What do I mean? One of the benefits of wild boar is that their rooting behavior. While humans often do not like this, as this rooting behavior can destroy gardens or picturesque roundabouts,  areas that have had this treatment are perfect for trees to germinate and start to grow.

Indeed we were astounded walking around the forest to see so many small copses of new tree nurseries. In this sense wild boar fulfill a similar niche of being ecosystem engineers as beavers in rivers.

Apart from the boar, there is a healthy population of deer. Roe deer exist here naturally. Fallow deer were introduced by the Normans and this is the most common species to see. In recent years Muntjac deer have also recently become established and are fascinating. There are a small number of red deer that still exist though seeing these is a lucky day.

Adult rooting with boarlets (or as some call them Humbugs)
One of the big advantages of boar presence is a reduction of ground cover

Wild boar are surprisingly large animals and we have had a couple of encounters with them on our visits.

The best way to spot them is by driving some of the back roads in the early evening.

I have once spotted a family from the car, and this year two boar ran past while we were walking a forest path.

Both were in a similar location. I will put together a page of information that will be sent with any booking made from the accommodation further down the page, or I can provide just this information for £10 if you have found a place to stay elsewhere.

The Forest of Dean is a truly wild woodland. While it is scattered with villages and towns, this is the only place I have seen beetles actually behaving as dung beetles, in the UK.

The government has also started a process of translocating pine martens to the area, and while the animal is shy, signs of its presence will increase over the next few years. If the translocation is successful, then it will also slowly remove the grey squirrels from this wood, which apart from being good for the health of the trees, will allow red squirrels to recolonize.

Visiting a place like this allows you to hunt for signs of the animals such as tracks, as well as spotting the actual animal itself.

Boar are highly intelligent, and fascinating to see. Care should be taken as they can be dangerous, particularly when they have young.

Places to stay

Below is a variety of lodgings which are close to wild parts of the forest. There is also a link to search all accommodation available within the forest of dean. Any bookings support the work of the site. The places we have listed are close to where we have had our sightings, however boar are found throughout the forest so do not feel restricted to just the places we listed.

Campsites will be listed below the hotels.

Link to search all available lodgings listed on booking.com throughout the Forest of Dean
Inglewood House Monmouth, prices from £90
Demense Farm Guesthouse, monmouth, prices from £122
Raglan Lodge, Monmouth, prices from £40
[booking_product_helper shortname=”forest of dean”]
Forest Walk Coleford, prices from £60
Lodge rooms, Coleford, prices from £80
Bell Hotel Coleford, Prices from £60
Angel Hotel Coleford, Prices from £99

Campsites coming soon

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Would you wish to pay a lot of money to go deer hunting with Donald Trump Jr?

The safari club International a group who lived to support the Hunting of various animals not minding how endangered they are, has recently Auctioned the chance to go hunting with Donald Trump Jr and his son in the Nevada wilderness.

donald trump jr, keen hunter

You will not be hunting big game but will be hunting the local deer.

All the lots in the auction are being sold with the aim to raise 5 million to support the work of the safari Club. While some of this money raised will go to conservation, A significant portion of it will also go to supporting the Hunting of wild animals.

One of the major arguments given for the supporting of hunting is that the money it brings in can be used for conservation. Generally the goods that hunting does is vastly overstated. While the Photographic safari of the same animals may have a bigger impact on the local environment, It has been shown that in all but a very small number of places this impact is positive giving the locals a reason to protect the flora and fauna in the area and an income that allows the standard of living around the wild area to improve. Hunting is rarely run by locals, the tourist and the guides coming from far away shooting animal often without a penny going to the local population and then go away again. The only places where hunting is better, Is in places that for one reason or another few people can enter; one example is the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania. Because the area has a number of endemic illnesses few people are prepared to run the risk to visit- because of the size of the Game Reserve it is capable of coping with low levels of hunting, and therefore the area can make money even though few people visit. 

It should be noted though that poaching undercuts this argument are therefore even in places like the Selous hunting of animals such as elephants should have been stopped due to the horrific poaching that has occurred over the last decade or two.

Mouse deer caught on camera trap for the first time in 30 years, long thought extinct

Photo: AFP

The mouse deer, a small antelope last seen 30 years ago in Vietnam, has been caught on camera trap again. Also known as the Silver-backed Chevrotain, having been seen on the camera trap, more were set up in the same region and they had many separate encounters with the mouse deer.

The local knowledge was used extensively in making this discovery and there is much effort to engage the local Village in the protection of this species. They are also excited to see what other species might have survived in this part of Vietnam, unknown to science.

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