On the 5th day of Christmas... unexpected guests

On the 5th day of Christmas we received unexpected guests at twenty minutes past four in the morning...

Five Wild Boar

Ravaged by wild boar...

Those of you who follow our blog will know we have a trigger camera sited in the wildest area of the garden here at La Pasera. The area is deliberately left to its own devices apart from a quick cut of the wild flowers and grasses after the seed heads have dried. So far we have filmed: Badgers, Pine Martens, Fox, Weasel, Hedgehogs, Birds, Mice, Cats, Deer and Wild Boar. The latest films are the best to date of wild boar activity.

On waking up, the first thing we generally do is to check that the cats are around and then have a wander around the garden with them before breakfast. It's a good opportunity to see what needs attention and what crops can be harvested. As we approached the wild area Luis spotted a small patch of turf lifted next to a clump of wild orchids...a sure sign of wild boar activity.

Then we spotted the devastation. A large patch of meadow in the wild area had been systematically ravaged and decimated. It looked like a plough had been through it with deep troughs and mounds of turf. This was right in front of the night camera so a few good shots were to be expected.

What we saw was quite something. First a large male, working his way through the meadow looking for tasty treats such as worm and bulbs. He was then approached by a smaller female who joined him in his quest for snacks. A few minutes later another female joined in. I was surprised at the length of their snouts and the strength they must have to be able to upturn compacted meadow turf with such vigour.



In total, they worked this small patch of meadow for two and a half hours. As the camera triggers for a minute at a time then re-sets, I had an awful lot of one minute videos to watch. My favourite is this last one in which the male Sniffs the camera, looks at it, suddenly decides enough is enough, grunts and trots off followed by the females one of which turns and also looks at the camera.



Fortunately, there was little damage elsewhere in the garden with only a few vegetables trampled as they had walked through the vegetable plot to get to the wild area. Obviously they are not so keen on mange tout, onions, potatoes or kale... Well let's hope so. There are a few more videos on Youtube.

Wild Boar in the garden

We've known for sometime that wild boar visit the garden but up to now we haven't seen them. We occasionally see a small group of them in the lower field at dawn or dusk but our garden visits happen in the dead of night.

The tell-tale signs are turf up-turned and small holes dug with trotters and snouts. They love bulbs especially allium, lords and ladies and Spanish bluebells. A small group can cause a lot of damage in a very short time.

This morning I went to check the Bushnell night camera and immediately spotted an area of up-turned turf and a few holes where the boar had been. I hoped that the camera had managed to get the evidence on film...

Sure enough there are half a dozen short videos of what looks like a young, solitary female, wandering back and forward around the wild area of the garden. When the boar goes out of shot you can hear her digging at the side of the camera before she returns into shot near the pond.

Thankfully they never seem to venture into the vegetable beds which are very close. Saying that, up to now, we have had little damage from any garden visitors including deer, boar, badgers, martens....Don't forget to check out the wide variety of wildlife we get in and around La Pasera on our Smaller Tales from Toriello Blog.

And finally, Wentworth and Gawber enjoying a moment of togetherness in the evening sun.