General Chat

Wild boar, wallaby, wild cat, beaver, lynx, grey squirrel, avocet, great bustard, mink, Badger, otter, Fox, hedgehog, toads , adder, rat, roe deer, sitka deer, fallow deer, birds of prey, seagulls, seals, killer whale, sharks..... Which are your friends among UK fauna which are in your gunsights or at the end of a gaff?

Recognising that some of the above were introduced and have caused havoc to native species, none of them would be in my gunsights.

Humans are another thing entirely however ;-) NB I am not being literal and I don't advocate violence but if mankind were to fall off the planet I think it would be no great loss.

I was considering yesterday in the concrete jungle that is Telford centre, how quickly it would be 'greened' in the event of a human wipe-out. In the areas that have been newly planted with hebes and grasses following building works the sycamores that have self seeded are already coming up strongly, I think it would not take too long
:-D

wildlife is successfully reclaiming Chernobyl. The Ukraine is doing something sensible by installing a v large solar energy plant while leaving wildlife to get on with it.

There are strange abandoned places all over the planet which wildlife has taken over. Even in New York City.

Leave the burnt-out Grenfell Tower as it is. Time & decay, aided by wildlife perhaps, might provide a lesson of the futility & limitation of imaginative human endeavours.

.....and the sheer misery for the survivors who would ( and are) having to look at it day in day out, and remember the anguish and the agony of those who died?

Pull it down, make a garden.

Dozens pass by our local cemetery and, no doubt, some will remember family/relatives lying peacefully under headstones of various designs.

The idea of replacing those graves with a flower-garden would, without doubt, upset many.

IMO That's very different Dermot.

At the end of the day will anything really replace it enough to make everyone content?
A garden...how will it be used..if playing area is that too happy? If flowers and benches will people be respectful or will drunks sit on the benches?
New housing of some sort with a memorial ...again what housing and will people want it.

You're going to upset someone no matter what happens.

I am all for being practical ( it was Sharron who mentioned shrubs and butterflies hence my suggesting a garden) but the foot print of the building is probably too small to accommodate many low rise properties although it's perfectly possible that the other blocks nearby will also have to be altered (if not pulled down entirely at some point) for anyone to feel safe in them.

What you can't practically do is leave it there in its current state, the structure is unsafe and will just crumble away sooner or later.

Agreed it can't be left it is unsafe.

The council will have to justify not replacing it with a tower block as they need the housing spaces...it's a no win situation as far as that's concerned.

Or, make it a cemetery, there may be no remains as such left on the site, and given the toxic elements in the dust and ashes I doubt that it could remain in situ even if covered in fresh soil, but headstones could be erected for all those known to have died and for the unknown 'missing'.

Again though as housing is in such short supply would it be acceptable to use that much space like that? Nice idea but

Again no win situation

I expect developers have sent in plans for luxury flats on the site already :-(

Maybe it should be some sort of memorial, Not sure plants would thrive if the soil is toxic but given so many died (who knows the real number, nobody seems to), a memorial might comfort those left and also remind those in power of the error of somebody's ways in cost cutting.

And we have strayed from Rollo's original question.

I think the people who live in the Forest of Dean towns would dearly like something done about the wild boar which, in their continual hunt for food because there are so many, have become very aggressive, destructive and fearless. Not sure where the one found in Gloucester town yesterday came from, hope he/she doesn't encourage the rest of its mates.
I was a bit bemused yesterday reading that those who have been culling grey squirrels were accused of being racist :-S

https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/idoxWAM/doc/Other-960664.pdf?extension=.pdf&id=960664&location=VOLUME2&contentType=application/pdf&pageCount=1

Interesting. it would perhaps be unfair of me to draw attention to certain paragraphs.

I was looking for the square metre footprint, to see just what space there would be.

Extract from the Gloucester article:-
Hundreds of wild boar live in the Forest of Dean on the other side of the River Severn, about 15 miles from Gloucester. 
They are known to attack dogs, children and even cars. Walkers have reported frightening confrontations with them, especially in the breeding season.
Gloucester residents are certain their nocturnal visitor is no domestic pig. Jaclyn Davis wrote on Facebook: ‘Whatever it is it’s got four legs and a mouth that can snap your arm.’
Hannah Davenport said: ‘Don’t go near it, they are bigger and more dangerous than pigs – they can disembowel you.’

Yes indeed, though I suspect that the boars there are not quite as big as the ones that roam Scandinavia.

Extract from an email to me (February 2017) from a friend in Sweden. A farmer who is also a licenced hunter. Please do not comment on his spelling.......but note the weight of the beast. (If anyone is interested in the photos, I could pm them.)

We shoot an male wild boar at friday night. 171 kg living weight. i attached some pictures in this email.
Not fun to get attacked of,  if it happens. they use their teeth to slice dogs and human up when they attack.  They only attack if they are hurted or in a very stressed situation.
We have been having 5 wolf latest months around and they seems to stay the whole time here. not nice at all.
The situation for the moose is not god.

We have lots of wild boar (sanglier) in Normandie. They are very intelligent. For the most part they keep to the woods and forests though there are renegades. The boars can be very large but are not usually aggressive. It is wise when driving on back country roads to be cautious as a car/boar collision will be v bad news for the car. A sow will stand her ground while a dozen stripey young cross the road giving no option but to wait.

They are good eating.

Just come on the say that the 'wild boar' supposedly seen in Gloucester town was later thought to be a pot bellied pig. However, I have been away for the weekend and have not seen the follow up so will have to check that out.

Just come on the say that the 'wild boar' supposedly seen in Gloucester town was later thought to be a pot bellied pig. However, I have been away for the weekend and have not seen the follow up so will have to check that out.

A pig that roamed free on the streets of Gloucester for more than 24 hours is “safe and well” after being found by two brothers who used a rope to “lasso” the animal into captivity.

The pig was handed over to police after being captured by Ben and Gavin Evans, who spotted the animal eating apples outside a city pub.

Police quickly dismissed local rumours that the animal was in fact a dangerous wild boar.

The animal evaded capture for more than 24 hours before being apprehended by officers early on Thursday morning.

The council says the pig has found “a new home” and will not be put down.

It was caught in the grounds of the historic St Oswald’s Priory and collared by police, who handed the animal over to Gloucester Council.

It was then taken to a “safe location”, which the council said it was unable to disclose.

Many locals thought the animal was in fact a wild boar, which have proved dangerous around the Forest of Dean in recent years, attacking children, dogs and cars.

The animal - a pot-bellied Vietnamese breed - was spotted on CCTV on Tuesday evening after straying into town from the nearby Forest of Dean.