Wild Boar Piglet

Numbers of wild boar in the Forest of Dean have been decimated over the last 6 months and it's now very hard to see them, let alone photograph them. Boar have been released here for the last 50 years, but most are from stock released 20 years ago. 3 years ago more "arrived" and these too have now become truly wild. This was taken last Friday, and was the result of getting within 5m of a small sounder of 2 females and 7 piglets. The piglets are 3 weeks old. Hoping I will see more of them in the next few months before they get shot by the Forestry rangers, farmers, or poached. Not a perfect shot I know, but interested to hear any comments.

Canon 5d2, 80-200mm at F2.8, 800ASA, 1/1000th sec. Handheld. 50% cropped to empahasize piglet. Full frame shows most of mother as well.

Dave

A nice shot, I like the golden colours of the piglet. There seems to be a bit of a blue/purple cast on some of the shadowy areas.

Matt

Great shot Dave, your hard work is paying off again I see.

Brian

Impressive how close you have got considering the circumstances described. Can also see the blue tinge in parts but am sure that can be sorted. Only pity is that the full face isn't lit but a good shot nonetheless

Sorry doesn’t quite work for me, I think the real image here is yet to happen, and by that I mean that you needed the piglet to move say a body length forward, then going vertical so as tp take out the adult, I think it would also have been in better light as the shadow on it is coming from the adult.

Still a very nice capture which many would be pleased to have, I know I would be.

Sorry to hear that the boar are being taken out by FC etc. A familiar tale when it comes to predators and other mammals that have the potential to impact on people. It seems bizarre that we react so swiftly when it comes to the remote chance of someone being bitten or attacked by a wild animal but yet fail miserably when it comes to finding ways to alleviate more damaging social trends such as obesity, drinking, CO2 emissions etc. etc. Hope you continue to fins and photograph the boar in the coming months. Cheers, Mark

Mark just answered Matt's question. "Officially", the Forestry are only killing what they deem to be "problem" boar. But ask the locals and the story is different. I know of 3 boar shot (at the same time) by FC that were definately not a problem. Each ranger has their own definition of "problem", and they even argue between themselves over this issue (this is the fallout of Defra's subjective ruling about controlling Boar). But there is no actual proof of how the boar are going to be fair, and some must be leaving the area still alive (running scared!). The FC try to blame dwindling numbers on traffic accidents, but news travels quickly here, and i haven't met anyone who can back this up with the exception of 1 incident in the snow over Christmas. But I have seen several dodgy vans throwing out bait, and there are several high chairs overlooking farmland (farmers are allowed to shoot boar on their own land at the moment), and one renegade landowner who even uses snares (yes, the police know!). It's the same old story that Mark states I'm afraid. There is also an ongoing project here to give female contraceptives using bait, but this is fearfully ill thought out and could impact drastically not only on other species, but the poor boy pigs as well. Still 2 years to go i'm told by Defra before the contraceptive is ready, but they will go ahead with this craziness, mark my words.

In my opinion the boar are very harmless, even with piglets if you don't rush at them. They do quite a bit of unsightly rooting, especially along roadsides, but I also see antisocial parking on verges, destruction of forestry paths by logging activity, and of course tons of litter that offends me much more than the pig diggings. FWIW, I estimate just 15-25 adult boar left (not the official 150-200 that defra often quote - this is utter nonsense and quite obviously propaganda to scare people) plus a handful near Ross on Wye on the outskirts of the Forest. Hopefully, this years piglets will double the number.

Thanks for the comments about the photo as well. I'll have a look at the purple shadows problem. Thanks for looking

Dave

A similar situation in Kent/Sussex although the FC seem to be more relaxed about boar presence. The main stronghold is on FC land and some private property where hunting isn't tolerated so the boar can maintain a population reservoir and remain relatively stable. However, they get hammered outside the core area and there is a fair amount of poaching within it, including the occasional use of snares. All the boar are extremely shy and wary.

Terry

Very sorry to hear about the state of boars in the Forest of Dean. I was really hoping to visit sometime in the near future, as I have never seen or photograph native boars. I am fond of these animals. Such a shame.

Its amazing that you can get this close to them! Good shot Would like to see mum as well in the frame.

What a shame. Not unsurprising though given the governments lack of knowledge on these sort of things. It is interesting to hear you say that you would have gone there to see them Des as I think that this is the side of the business that everyone forgets. There are many of us that would like to see boar in the UK. Many of us would travel to do so. For example, I live in Bristol and frequently travel to the Forest of Dean for photography purposes. A couple of years ago I took the whole family to go and see the Boars - which we did, right next to a main road. Since then we have gone back perhaps six or seven times to look for them again (I have found plenty of tracks but not seen them again). Each time we go we make a day of it, having lunch somewhere in the forest and perhaps taking in another tourist attraction. The Forest is one of the most deprived places in the UK with a substantial part of its income coming from tourism. If you deprive the area of some of its attractions - the Boar - won't that just have the effect of reducing the tourism revenue? In these harder times, the loss of a few families who have gone to see a wildlife wonder in the UK could mean the difference between survival and failure of some of the smaller tourist venues (pubs, cafes etc). I find the FC and governments attitude short sighted to say the least. I know that boar do damage fields and from the farmers point of view this can be a pain. However the rest of Europe seem to be able to cope with it. If they just allowed shooting on farmers land around the area, the resident poulation would soon begin to realise that they are safer in the woods and the problem becomes somewhat self solving.

Just my 2p - off my horse mode.
Best
Andrew