First White Stork Chicks in the UK since 1416

While it doesn’t boast Ostriches, Black Vultures, or Royal Albatrosses, the UK is no stranger to large birds, and now plays host to the third-largest eagle in the World, a resident population of Cranes, and now increasingly, White Storks.

A White-Tailed Fish Eagle, the third biggest eagle on the planet, which've now

made their home in Scotland, parts of Northern England and even the Isle 

Of Wight.

They’re flawless-looking birds, covered in pristine white and black feathers and donning a bright red bill and pair of legs. Standing at up to 125cm tall though, you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one if you were a fish, toad, or any little ground-living animal. That’s because they’ve got quite a unique method to hunt their prey. Using their powerful legs, they plunge their feet into the ground, kicking whatever they can get their claws on into the air, where they catch it, then crush it in their beaks and devour it. Clearly, the perfect candidate to carry new-born babies through the air.

The belief that storks deliver babies to people is actually based on some facts, such as the tight bonds formed between parents and their chicks, which sometimes return to their parents to look after them when they get older. But one of the reasons they’re depicted carrying specifically human babies is also one of the reasons they originally went extinct in the UK: their love of nesting on the tops of chimneys. Raising their young so close to humans has prompted many beliefs that they bring luck and are a sign of fertility, with lots of people welcoming them.

A beautiful photo of a White Stork by accomplished photographer: Ronald Pol.

Instagram: @Ronaldpolphotography

Sadly, this can’t be said for everyone, which is understandable, since a Storks’ nests can weigh over a ton, and can cause entire chimneys to collapse, which initially led to lots of hate and persecution towards them. This, combined with hunting and habitat loss, meant they were quickly exterminated in the UK, with the last breeding pair nesting in 1416, leaving a niche in the ecosystem-wide open, until now.

Personally, I'd love a pair of White Storks nesting on my

chimney, but you can see why it can cause problems.

Slowly but surely, over the last few decades, they’ve started to make a comeback, with an increased number of migrants coming to the UK to investigate possible nesting sites. Between 1958 and 2014, an incredible >1,000 birds have been sighted, not bad considering they were mercilessly persecuted. The ultimate success though is when a pair nest in the UK, which albeit is extremely rare, it has been happening more often, with only three nests being made from 1416 to 2014, while in 2020 (so far), three nests have already been made on just one estate. But on the 15^th of May, something which conservationists have previously only dreamed about happened: finally, after six hundred and four years, White Stork chicks hatched!

Several times before, eggs have been laid, but despite everyone having their fingers crossed for the birds, none of them ever hatched before, making this a historic moment in conservation. It wasn’t just one chick that hatched either, but a whopping six baby Storks, three in two different nests, both on the wildlife loved Knepp Estate in West Sussex. Sadly, it has certainly not been smooth sailing for the four parents, with one pair managing to successfully make a nest and lay a clutch of eggs on the exact same estate last year, only for them to tragically never hatch.

This was evidently still on people’s minds when they were observed incubating the eggs this year, with some dreading that history would repeat itself and the chicks would die before hatching. But following some keen observations from people, the promising sign of the adults regurgitating food into the nest could only mean one thing: chicks.

One of the two nests.

While it is highly unlikely that all the Storks will survive, as only 30% of all birds survive their first year, hopefully, some of them will fledge (this normally happens about 2 months after birth) and live on to see Britain become full of these

The promising (although a bit blurry) flash of

grey feathers from Stork chicks. 

unique birds once again.

The White Stork Project:

Just like many freshwater invertebrates, White Storks are thought to be an indicator of a healthy ecosystem, and fill a unique niche in it, making them a valuable species. Realizing this, conservation charities like the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust created the White Stork Project, with the goal of establishing 50 breeding pairs of White Storks in South England by 2030.

How the White Storks are being re-introduced:

Lucy Groves, the projects officer, laid out the three ‘phases’ that are/have be taken to get White Storks back into the

The luxurious enclosure with the Storks in.

British countryside for good, and these were:

Phase 1: Creating a ‘static population’

To create a static population, a large, open-aired enclosure had to be constructed, made up of a mosaic of different

A Stork gulping down a Water Vole.

habitats, from woodland to wetland, and all-enclosed in a ring of predator-proof fencing. When it came to stocking the enclosure with birds, rescued and rehabilitated Storks from Poland were used, as the injuries they’d previously suffered meant they wouldn’t be able to fly again.

This first step was important for many reasons, one significant one being the hope that it might attract any wild White Storks passing by, and lo and behold, two months later a pair of wild migrants joined the flock.

Phase 2: Creating a resident free-flying population

Normally in the wild, White Storks migrate south to places like Africa to avoid the cooler weather, but to start a resident population, a group of then captive Storks were held back two years, even during Winter. After the two years were up,

This Pool Frog needs to watch out-he's on the menu for roaming White Storks-

another great photo taken by Ronald pol.

they were released, but now saw the area they were kept back as their home, so were unlikely to venture too far.

By creating a resident population, it ensures that the birds can be monitored year-round for health problems, etc. and also means they’ll stay and (hopefully) successfully breed in the UK.

Phase 3: Creating a migratory population

The final goal is to have birds that naturally migrate to Africa or other southerly areas during Winter but migrate back up to the UK for Summer since this is natural. This could also attract other birds in the Southern migration destinations to travel back to the UK together, and continue to boost the population.

You can read more about the chicks here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-52675922


Link to a video by the White Stork Project's officer about the three phases:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n15aPsN0iA

How to track down a badger sett

Arguably the most charismatic British mammal, the Eurasian badger (Latin name: Meles Meles) is the tank among our mammal species. Able to climb, swim, and sprint at up to 45mph, they’re brilliantly adapted for any situation. Strictly omnivorous, over 50% of a badger’s diet (much more according to some people) is exclusively made up of Earthworms, although they will eat pretty much anything. From fruit, nuts, and leaves to toads, bees’ nests; even hedgehogs and rabbits are hunted down and killed.

Two badgers caught on a camera trap, the secret weapon of any mammal

watcher.

However, owing to their nocturnal habits and secretive nature, they’re often hard to see in the flesh, more often found dead at the side of the road. Luckily for us though, they leave signs of their presence everywhere and this blog post will be a basic guide about how to find these elusive animals because they’re probably a lot closer to you than you think…

Where to start looking?

Being such adaptable animals, badgers readily colonize a range of habitats, including forests, uplands, meadows, and increasingly urban gardens. Their preferred habitat though is deciduous woodland (a woodland that annually sheds its leaves), with a nearby open green space (e.g. arable fields) which is where they’ll forage for earthworms. Having said that, they’re not that picky, and anywhere 
where woodland (or any form of cover) meets open land is the best place to start looking.

First, go directly to where the woodland meets the open area, as this is normally where they’ll prefer to build the bulk of their sett. Look into the trees, for large ‘ant hills’: piles of often sandy-colored earth that have been excavated, known as spoil. They can stand out and be quite large if part of an active sett too.

Make sure to try and be as thorough as possible, walk around as much of the border as you can, scan the trees and scrub for those little humps, it does work too, as the first sett I found was only because I noticed a little pile of sandy earth in some bushes and decided to investigate.

A less-defined path made by a badger, after following this it lead me straight to

the sett. Also, note it's an almost perfect habitat.

Signs further away from the sett:

Entrance to a badger sett-badger setts have a D

shaped entrance as shown here.

If you’ve had no luck, then it’s time to zoom out and look for signs that can be found further away from the sett. The first of these is a path or run. Being such low-slung and hairy animals, badgers are a bit like the brooms of the forest, and once they’ve walked along a certain route a few times, they wear away the vegetation and some of the ground. These paths can be quite long, although they are much more obvious closer to the sett, where they’re used a lot more.

The most obvious are completely devoid of any vegetation and usually have the top layer of the earth too, exposing the lighter soil underneath. But lookout for the less-used ones too, where the vegetation has been parted. Generally, badger runs are about 30cm wide 
(from my experience) and roughly 30-40cm tall if it's been made through thick vegetation.

This can help separate them from paths made from other animals like deer and foxes, which are often a lot less defined, and much narrower (especially with foxes). Another way to find out is to follow it, especially if it leads into a woodland, as deer ones often stop once they reach cover, but badger ones should end at a sett. Don’t stress out over this too much though, as they’ll often share paths and there are much more reliable signs to look for.

Another path parallel to a sett in the bushes behind

it.

One of these are tracks, as badgers can travel over 22km foraging in just one night, so it’s a good indicator far away from the sett. Their tracks are medium-sized, with a broad, stout interdigital (middle) pad and long claw marks are often seen. The main way to tell them apart from something like a fox or a cat though is to look at the toes: badgers are the only ones to have five toes, everything else will have four or less (unless it has some sort of mutation but it’ll still look different).

Another sign that can be found quite far from the sett, although not always the most reliable, are the marks left from where the badgers have been foraging. Because so much of their diet is made up of earthworms, they do a lot of digging around, leaving very messy areas 
of turned over mud and roots, but sometimes they can be quite distinctive.

Remember, FIVE toes, no more, no

less.

Unlike rabbits and foxes, when badgers dig, they’ll normally make quite a round conical hole, matching the shape of their nose, whereas rabbits and foxes normally leave a rectangular hole, but this isn’t consistent.

The badger who did this scat had clearly eaten

a lot of worms.

Sometimes accompanying these are latrines. A warning to other roaming badgers and predators that they’re stepping into someone else’s land, they’re frequently made at the border of a badger clan’s territory, sometimes quite a distance from their setts. Being very hygienic, badgers will create a little hole beforehand, and from looking at the scat itself, you can also quite easily determine what they’ve been eating. After eating a lot of worms, the scat is very runny and smooth, whereas if they’ve been eating something like beetles it’ll be dark, and any remains like exoskeletons should be quite obvious.

Getting closer…

The closer you get to a badger sett, the more of these signs you’ll start to see, and the more concentrated they’ll get. One of these signs is badger fur, which can be found a little way away from the sett, but a lot of the time it’ll be within a few hundred meters if not closer.

A classic little foraging sign made

by a badger-note the shape of it

and how it matches the shape

of a badger's nose. 

Some typical fur from a badgers back, although you

probably won't find this much on one fence.

The commonest type of fur found is the stuff from a badger’s back and sides, as they squeeze under fencing or scratch themselves on a piece of wood, and while appearing grey, each individual hair is actually black and white. Most of the time, it’s about 2/5 black in the middle, 2/5 white on one end, then on the other around 1/5 white. While some dog and cat breeds have similar looking fur, badger fur will usually be slightly bent, and if you roll it between your fingers it’ll feel very jagged and angular, but most cats and dogs will have near-cylindrical fur. It’s also more common than you might think, so be sure to check any wire fencing in the area you’re searching for badgers in.




Is the sett active or not?

Assuming you’ve found the sett, you might wonder if there are actually badgers using it, because a surprising amount of the time badger setts will be found vacated, for whatever reason. There are lots of things to look for here that tell you this, although I’ll only mention some.

 The first and probably the one that most tells you it’s inactive is how clean it is since an active badger sett will have a nice wide, open entrance, clear of any vegetation. However, if you find a badger sett with plants growing in front of it or inside it, it shows you it hasn't been used in a while.

Now, something to look for in an active badger sett is bedding. Being the germaphobes that they are, (not really, otherwise they

Some typical bedding left on the spoil infront of a 

badger sett entrance.

wouldn’t live in holes in mud) they regularly take out their old bedding (normally grass/hay) and dump it outside the sett entrance, ready to drag in some clean stuff. Look around the entrances to the sett, especially on the spoil heap in front of it, for any hay that’s been left there. There can be quite a lot sometimes too.

A nice sized badger sett entrance, notice there's

nothing obstructing it, and part of a run to the left

leading into it.

Although they are clean animals, badgers do (like all of us) smell pretty bad sometimes, and sometimes when around a sett entrance for long enough, you’ll get the old and quite musty smell of a badger. The good thing is it’s very distinctive from the smell of foxes, which smell bizarrely similar to someone smoking weed.

Badger, Fox, or Rabbit?

 Badgers, rabbits, and foxes all live in underground tunnel systems, and sometimes even share one, like one I found that had both foxes and badgers bunking together. But more often than not, they’ll have their own designated ones.

Out of the three, badgers usually have the biggest entrances, being such large animals,

Always follow the paths and you will be rewarded.

and the hole is normally shaped like a ‘D’ on its side, while fox ones are normally (not always) a bit smaller, won’t have that characteristic ‘D’ shape and won’t be as clean of plants. Outside fox earths, you’ll often also find the remains of prey they’ve killed, but outside badger setts, you’ll only find some straw.


Rabbit warrens, on the other hand, can be a similar shape and size to badger’s sett and can have a large spoil heap in front of them too. Usually, though the best way to tell if it’s the entrance to a rabbit warren is to look inside, a badger sett will stay consistently large and go straight down, whereas a rabbit warren will often get narrower straight away, or steer off to the right or left.

Hopefully, this was useful and happy badger hunting!  

Are there big cats in the UK!?

Panthers, Leopards, and Pumas? This doesn’t sound like your typical British wildlife! But shockingly, sightings, footprints, and even sheep carcasses have been emerging all across the UK, with concentrations around National Parks like Dartmoor in the South and the West. Some people have grouped these with UFOs and Werewolves, but is it really so

Could these 'big cats' just be another bigfoot?

  outlandish? Is there a possibility there are big cats roaming the shadows of Britain’s countryside?


How could leopards and panthers even get there in the first place?

The short answer is yes, there could be big cats out there, they’re highly adaptable, plus we have all the prey they’d need. But are there? While no one knows for sure, there’s a lot of potential evidence, with sightings coming from credible sources such as zookeepers, naturalists, even members of the British Army. There’re also some plausible explanations for how they could’ve got out there.


 In my opinion, the most credible is that they were released as a result of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, a law passed in 1976, stating that no one can own any dangerous animals unless under license. During the years prior, big cats were becoming increasingly fashionable, with black leopards being extremely popular with gangs, as they were used to intimidate rivals. However, many people had to substitute them for Pumas (just for the record, pumas, mountain lions, and cougars are all the same animal!) which were more common, and easier to buy and keep.


After the act was passed though, while some people sought out licenses or turned over their pets, lots were released into the wild, but it’s not known how many, since most were done secretly. Recently there have been people confessing though, like a previous animal trainer who told a newspaper about how he released his puma and black leopard into rural Devon. He also said all his friends who owned big cats had done the same, just in different locations.

A Puma, Cougar, Mountain Lion, whatever you want to call it-more

commonly owned than black panthers because of how cheap and

easy they were to keep.

There are also other theories, such as one claiming feral and domestic cats have interbred, creating large ‘mutant’ cats. Or one that suggests remnant populations have miraculously survived from thousands of years ago from when panthers naturally lived in our forests.


Howbeit, there’s not really any proof of either of these, and I can’t really get on board with either. Plus, there’re confirmed records of panthers, leopards, and puma being released into the wild after the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, but no evidence for the other theories.


Are the ones released after the Act still here though? Well in captivity, Leopards live for up to 17 years, panthers 20 and pumas up to 19. So, even if pregnant cats were released into the wild, they should've all died off by 1996 at the latest. So, if they do still exist, then the original animals would've had to have had cubs.


Unfortunately, though, there’s no recent concrete photos or videos out there showing big cats (some of you might not be surprised) mainly just fuzzy unfocussed videos, or hikers out in remote locations swearing they “know what they saw”.

Most of our 'evidence' for big cats consist of blurry

pictures on peoples phones like this one.

Where are the Cats being sighted?


These reports come from all over, from the Highlands to Hampshire, but the bulk of sightings come from the South West corner of the UK, with the Forest of Dean, Exmoor and Dartmoor being hotspots. One very concentrated areas is Bodmin Moor. It’s located in the Northeast Cornwall, and over the years has been subject to over 60 alleged sightings of a Black Leopard like cat, which has been dubbed “the beast of Bodmin Moor”. However, these peaked during the 1980s, suggesting that if there was a cat (or cats) there it probably died without breeding, meaning the recent sightings are probably hoaxes.


The Beast of Exmoor is another extremely popular case, arising from black cat sightings in Exmoor National Park, some coming from pretty reliable sources. The local police, big cat keepers at the Exmoor Zoo, and even army marksmen hired to protect locals have all apparently seen “large black pantherine cats”, telling us that if there are cats there, they’re either panthers or leopards.

A magnificent black Panther, do you think 

they'd be obvious if they were on our

small island?

However, Trevor Beer, a naturalist who after (supposedly) tracking a big cat through Exmoor from kills and footprints for weeks, caught a glimpse of what’s believed to be a puma, not a leopard. He described the encounter in his book “The Beast of Exmoor”, and field sketches show quite a short, stocky cat with a round head, reminiscent of a Puma, suggesting that there might be both Pumas and Black Leopards in Exmoor.


Without any concrete evidence in the form of actual photos though, how can we be sure if there are/aren’t large cats out there? Well luckily for us, big cats kill and eat their prey in a very distinctive way. Unlike a dog which’ll normally snap at the legs and back of its prey, most big cats will just lock their jaws around its neck, quickly suffocating and bringing them to the ground. And, it’s no surprise that over the years many sheep kills have been deemed the result of big cats.


Overall, these kills are much more reliable than sightings and dodgy videos, with zoologists, policemen and all sorts of people usually called to the scene to check it out. One remarkable incident happened several years ago in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire, where not one, two, three, four, five, or six, but seven sheep had been slaughtered overnight. Six of them had been dragged and stuffed underneath a riverbank, while one had already been partly eaten.

Another possible sighting, courtesy of

@highhedgephotography on Instagram 

They’d all been killed the same way: with one lethal bite to the neck, punctures clearly visible where the canines were. After analysis, a conclusion was made that it must’ve been the work of two animals, since on some animals the gaps between the punctures were 5cm, while on the others it was just under 4cm. This could suggest that if they were murdered by cats, one could’ve been a juvenile, with a smaller mouth than the adult it was with.

Pictures like this of supposed panthers could easily

be something like a black fox (below) a rare 

morph of the Red Fox. Or it could just

be a black dog.

As well as bite marks, one sheep even had these huge claw marks down its back, where a cat likely would’ve jumped on it and raked its claws along it to floor it. The marks were very deep, even ripping through the poor animals’ intestines. Furthermore, the seventh sheep which had been partially eaten showed signs that it was again the work of a big cat, with large patches of bone visible, completely devoid of any flesh. This could be the work of a big cat, because on their tongues, they have backward-facing barbs called Papillae, which’re used to groom their kill before they eat it to remove any ticks, fleas, etc. They’re also used to scrape any remnants of skin and flesh from the bones, ensuring nothing’s 
wasted.


There were also the classic sightings of a “large black pantherine cat” again, a few days before, although some could’ve actually been true this time.


Dead cats:


Personally, I think the most convincing evidence that has turned up has got to be the actual bodies of big cats, with ones being found or shot, surprisingly often, such as the mysterious Canadian Lynx that was shot by a hunter in South England in 1902.


The most recent example would be a case that occurred all the way up in Scotland, away from the bulk of the majority of sightings. In September 2012, John Robertson was walking his dog through a rural corner of Cullen, when he came across a clump of mauled seagull remains next to the footpath. Investigating further, (since it was strange seeing so many) he took a detour off the trail, which was when he found it: sprawled on the ground was the shrivelled up, sun-cooked corpse of a large black cat. The flesh on its face had been worn away, exposing its huge, smooth canines and the contorted splinters of bone poking through its tight black skin.

The corpse of the big cat found in Scotland-its size, teeth and skin colour all

showing that it was a juvenile animal, the adults are much larger. To give 

some scale the tail was roughly 18 inches long.

It’s thought that it was the body of a young melanistic (all-black) leopard, after DNA tests were sent off, plus several general observations. The teeth were key in this, as they were pristine compared to those of adults which are normally all grazed and worn. It’s black skin also showed it was a juvenile, since the fully matured adults don’t have this.

While people will argue that even dead bodies can be faked, it is possible for the UK to support these incredible animals. 

We’ve got an abundant food source for them in the form of deer, wild boar and livestock that have no natural predators. Easy prey for something as skilled as a leopard or panther. We’ve also got to remember that while leopards, panthers etc are called ‘big cats’ they seek out cover in the canopy or other high places and normally melt into the background of a shady woodland.

Nobody knows for sure if they’re out there though, and I think there needs to be a thorough search for them, because this could be nothing but hoaxes and public fear. Or, it could be a danger to livestock and also the public. I think we do need to be honest with ourselves too, because we all over dramatizes evidence even when it clearly looks fake, and it is crazily easy to fake sightings and pictures.


I like to believe they're out there, but what is your opinion? Could there really be big cats stalking the shadows of our forests, or could it just be another crazy myth, that should be grouped with Werewolves?

Wild Boar: back from extinction with a vengeance!

A few thousand years ago, the UK was exploding with Brown Bears, Wild Boar, Beavers, Lynx, and Wolves. Forest covered 60% of the UK at its peak, meaning other extant large mammals like the Wildcat and Pine Marten were widespread. Today,

This capture is by wildlife photographer Simon Spedding, 

who posts photos of wildlife on his Instagram account: 

@sssssspeds

however, the Scottish Wildcat teeters on the brink of extinction; Pine Martens have only hung on because of Conservationists, while Beavers have already gone extinct once before. Though there are tentative steps to introduce Lynx to Scotland, pretty much all our previous megafauna is extinct. 

However, a few decades ago, one species decided it had been extinct long enough: the magnificent wild boar!


After being hunted to extinction in the 17^th century, mainly through breakouts but also deliberate releases, Wild Boar are back and there’s more of them than ever! The first few sightings were reported again back in the 1990s when they were discovered by gamekeepers. Since then the population has skyrocketed to roughly 4000 boars, with over 1,600 of these living in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire.

A woodland made of Oak meets a woodland of Pine trees 

meet in the middle of the Forest Of Dean.

Where to see them:

Whilst they’re most concentrated in the Forest of Dean (especially in Ross on Wye) there’re populations all over the UK. The second-largest of these is around the Kent/Sussex border, comprising of a few hundred animals, although there are also breeding populations in West Devon and Dorset. Recently the boars have even decided to cross the border into South Wales where there's now a healthy population, there're even some rumors of boar in Scotland.

However, it can be hard to know how reliable some of these sightings are, since Wild Boar
 are immensely powerful and expert escape artists, regularly escaping Boar Farms where they’re killed for their fur and meat to live wild.


Are Wild Boar doing too well?

Currently, Wild Boar are flourishing in the UK countryside, with some sources believing that there could be more now than there have ever been. This is partly attributed to Climate Change because, despite their tough persona, they struggled to find food during harsh historic UK winters. Now though, this poses no problem to them, as the Winters are now extremely mild, and they can happily forage all year round.

An adult Wild Boar photographed in the Forest 

Dean by wildlife enthusiast Marco Garcia

Gala.

Combined with this is that unlike before, when they would’ve been hunted by Bears, Wolves, and the young ones probably by Lynx, the boars now have no predators to keep them in check, apart from us. This is the same with deer in the UK because while they are beneficial to the ecosystem, you can have too much of a good thing in this case. When there are lots of deer, they can actually do a lot of damage, such as destroying habitats for nesting birds through over-browsing (browsing is when herbivores feed on leaves and shoots high-up).

The River Wye in the Forest Of Dean-a Wild Boar hotspot.

Over time this has sparked the debate about should we cull them? Which’s what currently happens with both deer and, (although less frequently) Wild Boar. This is done with boar to try and bottleneck the population since they regularly dig up graveyards, gardens, and any other green space where there could be food for them. Plus, there’re concerns that they’re a danger to the public. And while there have been deaths and attacks caused by Boars, with exceptions to car collisions, none of them were unprovoked.


Probably the most famous incident was when a dogwalker had a chunk of his hand bitten off by a boar in the Forest of Dean, which has fuelled a lot of people's fear towards them. However, it was likely just owing to the Wild Boars' protective nature over each other (especially when there’re piglets involved) with the females (sows) even doing false charges when they feel threatened.

This was probably the case with here, the boar saw the dog as a threat, and possibly the man since they recognize that people cull them. Then when they both got a bit too close it charged and gave the man a warning bite to say, “back off”. It probably didn't actually want to do any serious damage since they do have the capability to dish out a lot if they feel they have too.


But the good thing is they won’t go out of their way to deliberately hurt someone, and 9/10 times (probably more) they’ll just turn tail and run. And anyway, treated with proper respect I don’t think there is an aggressive animal on the planet (apart from polar Bears which hunt humans regardless). I also think that while culling them is an easy solution, there's got to be a better one out there that does less damage and pleases more people.


A bit more about Wild Boar:

However, besides hunting them and eating them, some people sadly don't think much of Wild Boar, but they are extremely intelligent animals and I think they're e.

A Wild Boars footprint-notice the two small circular

holes behind the main part of the track-they can be

handy to separatea Wild Boars track from a deers.

They’re pretty powerful animals, growing to around 1 meter tall at the shoulder, the males being recognizable from the females by having a prominent dorsal ridge, where the fur is contrastingly darker and higher. Also, unlike the females the two bottom canines of the male protrude from the mouth and grow into long tusks, reaching up to 12cm, which are used in determining social rank, and also to assist with foraging.


Their diet itself is surprisingly varied, one of the main things that have resulted in them being so versatile. They’re primarily vegetarians, eating seeds, nuts, roots, and bulbs, which they get to by using their strong, cumbersome heads to turn over huge chunks of earth. This is one of the main things to look out for when trying to find Wild Boar since they leave behind distinct lumps of mud that's been peeled back. They’re also opportunistic omnivores, eating invertebrates, eggs, baby birds, and occasionally small mammals and carrion (dead animals, like a Red Deer carcass).

An adult Wild Boar in the Forest Of Dean-running

away from people. Photo was taken by Marco 

Garcia Gala.

This’s meant that while forests are their preferred habitats, they do colonize others, and are increasingly turning up in farmland, marshes, and towns.


Breeding:

Probably one of the best times to go looking for Wild Boar is during Winter. This is because they’re crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) and nocturnal, especially in Summer and Spring, when they’ll sleep through the warm weather. However, during Winter and Autumn when it’s cooler, they’re more likely to be active during the day, plus from late November-March it’s the busiest time of year for them: the rut!

Two juvenile Wild Boars playing together-photo

also taken by dfmfamily. 

This is the only time when the males (boars) aren’t solitary and come together in large groups to compete to mate. The dominant males are usually polygamous (they have several mates so prevent the younger males from mating) but sometimes shoving, biting, and charging episodes do break out, determining who gets how many females.

This picture was taken and posted online by photography 

account: dfmfamily  on Instagram of a juvenile

Wild Boar losing its stripes.

Once mated, each female incredibly creates a nest, just like a bird. She first removes some of the vegetation to make a slight depression in the ground, then piles sticks, pine needles, anything will do, on top of it up to 70cm high, before giving birth in it to usually 4-10 piglets. They’re much smaller than the adults, bearing that charismatic striped ginger and blonde coat making them resemble a mint humbug.


Why Wild Boar should stay in the UK's forests:
In many communities, Wild Boar are resented for their destructive foraging habits, which have been proven to have some negative impacts on the environment (such as reducing plants like Bluebells). Nonetheless, though, they’re also great ecological engineers, and turning over the soil has the same results in a forest as it does when gardeners do it. A lot of the time it actually increases the diversity of plants, allowing more seeds to take whilst unearthing some buried deeper underground. It also increases the speed of decay, by mixing the leaf litter in with the soil, which also supplies more food to the soil organisms, keeping the earth healthy.

Overall, while they are a bit annoying sometimes, they’re specifically designed to live in our forests and have lived with people for thousands of years in other countries, and I hope they’re here for years to come!

A female Boar and her piglets melting into the Forest

Of Dean-photo taken by Marco Garcia Gal