Anyone met any Wild Boar in the Forest of Dean ?

Wondered if in real life the Boar are confident or shy? Wonder what experiences people might have had with them?

Never seen any, but seen signs of them being about.

Saw a young one in Corsica, it seemed more scared of me. Didn’t know we still had them over here. The big ones are scarily big (though don’t be fooled by sapaudia’s dodgy photoshop fakes).

Yup, Sheldon.

Oh, boar. I thought you said bore

Boar released
I’ve not seen them but some mates have – stand their ground & aggresive if you get to close, some have been seen up to 50 miles away from where they escaped!

met his brother dean the bike bore the other week.

i’d rather meet one than a local

oi! We are lovely here.
Remember the old Bran Flakes add?
Well re boar. They’re tasty, tasty, very very tasty.
Great fun to watch if you are about at night. most don’t care or wander off but a sow with little ones can get a bit stroppy when dogs are about. Most people make too much noise when out and about and keeping to well used paths doesn’t help either.
Next time you are the FoD go for a walk behind Drybrook road station or above Cannop ponds

Didn’t some chase a copper down that ways last year or did I dream that?

Just found a photo site of them – very appealing

Wild boar photos

Met some in the FOD last year, all riding niche singlespeeds…….seriously I bumped into them on the Fodca trail, about 6 of them, thought best to turn back rather than risk a confrontation!

Bloke at work went to a boar roast and said it was very tasty.

Aw . . .

How you’ve aged since we last met MD…

:>)

Yep… I disturbed a wild boar while riding the Lawnmower trail above Mallards Pike last year.

Steelfreak – Did you like riding the “Lawnmower Trail”. Actually its not called the “Lawn Mower” trail at all. Its actually called “Matty’s 3”. I used to live in one of the cottages up on Staple Edge and built 4 trails all starting from outside the cottage. It got named the Lawn Mower Trail by the Pedal a Bike Away gang as I mentioned I used a Lawn Mower to cut down some stinging nettles at the start of the track, and the name stuck! I still think that it rates as one of the best pieces of single track in the forest as it seems to ride well what ever the weather. Matty’s 1,2 and 4 are still there but not so easy to find as they need a bit of trail work done to them.

Matt

Seen several now over the last couple of years. They originate from dumped farm-bred boar crossed with domestic pig so are not really afraid of humans. They are confident but will generally avoid human contact so, like mattsccm says, will normally walk away and avoid people.
They’re mainly nocturnal and the FC are trying to heft them away from towns and villages to prevent conflict.

But…

Has anyone seen reports in the press today saying that the FC have confirmed that there have been recorded sightings of a big cat. These press reports stem from a Western Daily Press reporter asking for the information under the Freedom of Information Act!
Chatting to a FC ranger today he told me that there have been two recorded sightings by FC staff in the last 5 years. These sightings were apparantly through night sights by experienced staff out doing deer counting surveys and the like. They workers are familiar with the fauna of the area and are experienced in the use of the sighting equipment so there is no doubt amongst FC staff that the sightings were accurate.

Have to say though that in my 50 odd years wandering the Dean I have never seen a big cat. Various deer, boar, badgers, foxes, mink, rodents & even an otter. I think I’ve seen a polecat but never seen a big cat :~(

I’ve seen wild boar in NZ. They are pretty difficult to come across as will keep out of your way, once cornered however they are very aggressive, just do a google search for the dogs they hunt htem with!!

You mean this story.
Big Cat in the FOD

Just cause you work for the forestry comission doing deer surveys, doesnt mean you are an expert in id’ing big cats through thermal imaging, just as likely to have been a feral dog.

That’s the one grahamh.

“Just cause you work for the forestry comission doing deer surveys, doesnt mean you are an expert in id’ing big cats through thermal imaging, just as likely to have been a feral dog.”

I’ll bow to your greater experience a_a but round this area we’re easily excited ;~)

I always wonder about the cats. My uncle spent exactly 51 years with the commission in th FoD mostly as a game ranger yet reckons he has never seen any sign of one. As nocturnal and solitary as he is I reckon he should have. just seems strange that probably the most likely person to have seen a cat hasn’t. dunno.
it would be good though. How about wolves as well. Please.

Matt – yes, ‘Matty’s 3’ is certainly one of the best bits of singletrack in FoD. The ‘lawn mower’ part has grown in a ‘chinese whispers’ kind of way, so now legend has it that you used a lawn mower to clear the whole trail!

A couple of years ago we also used to ride a trail that started from the grass in front of the bungalow and kind of went back along the ridge and then across a fire road (I’m guessing that was one of yours). Haven’t ridden it recently as it’s become overgrown. Never found your other two…

I’m not saying it wasnt a cat, but the article says they were sure it wasnt a deer…. could have been a hippo then? I always think more sheep would be lost if many big cats were about, they’ve got to be easier to catch than rabbits.

I agree mattsccm; neither I nor any of my mates have seen any sign and I’ve always been cynical of reported sightings over the years especially as there has never been any real physical evidence. Having said that, this particular evidence wasn’t going to be released into the public domain until it was asked for under legal circumstances.

Now, wolves… that would give the regular letter writers in the local press something to get excited about! ;~)

I have rellies living in the FoD. They used to farm until foot’n’mouth wiped out their stocks. The wife has seen a big cat at about 50 yds in low light, across one of their own fields. It was in a gateway, so its size was easy to estimate, and as she’s used to farm animals, dogs deer and boar, knows it wasn’t any of them. This was 3-4 years ago.

I have rellies living in the FoD. They used to farm until foot’n’mouth wiped out their stocks. The wife has seen a big cat at about 50 yds in low light, across one of their own fields. It was in a gateway, so its size was easy to estimate, and as she’s used to farm animals, dogs deer and boar, knows it wasn’t any of them. This was 3-4 years ago.

Steelfreak – yeah, that was one of Matt’s too. Matt will confirm but I think the continuation of that counted as 2 of his trails?

a_a, sheep are regularly lost in the area (and carcasses have been inspected for ‘gnaw’ marks but I’ve not heard of any confirmed cat involvement). Interestingly there was a spate of pet dogs that went missing in an area where there was an alleged sighting a few years back. But again, it’s only assumption and dogs do go missing.

I’d also expect that at some point in the last 20 years that a hound pack would have put up a big cat if there were many in the countryside.

Just remembered. Was out in the woods about the time F&M came in. Watched an animal moving about. Was absolutely positive it was a pussy . Eventually it wandered off. A black, maybe dirty, Muntjac deer. If you look at the silhouette there is a striking similarity. that hunch make them particularly cat like.