Bloody Wild Boar

There's a lot of wild Boar in this corner of France. Their numbers seem to have exploded in recent years, there's not a day goes by when I don't hear them squealling and grunting over in the woods on the other side of the river. I wish they would stay there!

Boar do enormous amounts of damage in their quest for food. At this time of year they are particularly active as they search out nuts, berries and various grubs. Autumn is nature's bounty, they know that. Winter is fast approaching, they know that too.



It's the 'grubbing' aspect of their behaviour which causes the real damage. They merrily churn up large areas of turf to find chafer grubs ( another pain-in-the-arse pest of which I have too many) and other protein rich tasty morsels, and all with the finesse of a drunk driving a plough.

They've torn swathes of the field up away from the houses, and it'll take hours and hours for me to reorganise and stamp the turf back down. I'm going to wait a few days before I attempt it. The ground's so dry at the moment, It has only rained twice since the beginning of September, so if Wednesday's promised forecast comes true, Thursday will be spent piecing the jigsaw back together.




They could easily come back and do it all again though. They've ravaged some of my neighbour's gardens. It ain't funny.

This year's continued shortage of rainfall has contributed to the Boar creating so much havoc. They seem to be travelling further and further to find food and have no problem crossing the little river Beune which runs through here as it is at a record low.