On entering the Galloway Forest on 1 April, wood anemones flowering already and bluebells ready to burst, I was asked by a local forester: “Have you seen the wild boar yet?” It was no April fool. My neck of the woods, near Dalbeattie, just north of the Solway Firth, is a hot spot for wild boar (Sus scrofa). And yet, despite the males weighing in at around 150kg, it is possible to miss them, many times over in fact. So I had to say no.
On several more occasions, I returned to try to find these denizens of the deep woods. There are two separate groups in Dumfries and Galloway, descendants of farm escapees (both accidental and deliberate), and with their ability to produce up to 10 piglets at the time, the two groups are likely to meet soon. The UK population stands at between 500 and 2,000, and their overall impact on woodland diversity is not yet clear. There are concerns about the transmission of foot and mouth disease, and swine fever, and they can certainly cause agricultural damage, though at low densities it appears they can be useful ecosystem engineers.
So how to see one? Thankfully they are noisy eaters, often heard long before they are seen, grunting and snuffling, grubbing for roots or digging scrapes in which to wallow. I know from spotting them in Poland, Belarus and Tuscany that going by ear not eye can be the best tactic.
After six more forays without sight, sound or sniff, I finally hear a squeal and catch the distinctive, musty whiff of wild boar on the air. The welcome sun has steam rising from the damp canopy as it lights up the lichens, mosses and the white anemones below.
I follow the aroma and hurdle a broken barbed-wire fence that holds telltale clumps of boar hair with their pale and unmistakable split ends. Breaking the skyline (always a mistake when wildlife-stalking), I manage to surprise a “sounder”, a whole family of wild boar. Surprisingly there was a large boar present – they normally shirk nursery duties. He trudged off, followed by six or seven piglets, a couple of yearlings and two sows.
A brief encounter, but nevertheless, the first wild boar that I have seen in this area, and my sightings have been added to the national database.
• Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary
