Back-tracking a little here, as Craig and I also went to the Forest of Dean on Thursday last week in search of a few of forest mammals. Ideally we would have loved to have seen Wild Boar, and all seemed on target! as we were just about to give up when Craig spotted a Boar 'Sleeping'... Getting all excited we approached slowly as it was a sub-adult male, tusks and all! but the closer we got, the soon realised that it wasn't sleeping, and it was actually dead :'(. Not sure the cause of death, but it wasn't that far from a main road, so likely hit by a car and stumbled into the woodland injured. I won't post the pictures, it was quite graphic.
The day was saved however! As another first for both of us came soon after, in the form of a Muntjac Deer :D
I've only ever had 1 other brief sighting of a Muntjac but I've never got to photograph one before. If you haven't seen one before, it's not that they're not common, it's just they are so small, as so easy to miss. (About the size of a small-medium sized Dog). They aren't native to the Uk, but they're well established, and personally, a welcomed addition to the Uk Deer population.
Muntjac Deer
Arriving home, I spent an hour along the Avon Llwyd to see how our Dippers are getting on, as they're usually quite early breeders, so most will be sitting on eggs already.
This looked promising with territories well established, males singing around the nesting sites and even the Grey Wagtails are getting broody and won't be far behind I'm sure.
