Wild boar on the river

November 3, 2014

About three weeks ago I wandered off to the river for the last couple of hours of daylight. I was hoping there might be a fish or two around and there were. I managed to catch a small barbel and saw a few carp nosing around in the margins but, in the failing light, I was struggling to present a nymph without spooking them, and they were able to continue eating their dinner untroubled by me.

But what was memorable about that evening was, not the fish but the sight of three wild boar on the riverbank. I suspected that they were around. I had seen the deep imprints of their feet in the mud and heard noisy crashing among dense banks of canes but I was not expecting to have a chance to see them in the open during daylight.

Several years ago a sow with her half brown young wandered down to the river to drink and the family was unaware that I was standing only about 20 metres away. It was quite a sight. I was a little nervous to be truthful but was ready to leap into the river if push came to shove! In the end the little troop just wandered away again and disappeared from view.

These are the only two sightings I have had of wild boar on the river bank and I did not manage to take a photograph on either occasion. But it has since become clear that they are frequent visitors by night to the haunts that I visit during the day. Their tracks are everywhere and, here and there, they have turned over the earth and rooted in the mud in the search for food.

The boar that frequent the riverbank seem to belong to the more southerly distributed of two sub species found in the Iberian Peninsula, Sus scrofus baetica. Its slightly larger northern counterpart, Sus scrofus castilianus is less dark in colour and a little larger. These animals are not uncommon but are not often seen and so it is a particular treat to meet them face to face.