Groundbreakers

After centuries of absence, wild boar are back in Britain. What does this mean for us - and them? Big, messy, and mysterious - crossing paths with a wild boar can conjure fear and joy in equal measure. Driven to extinction seven hundred years ago, a combination of the species' own tenacity and illegal releases from the 1980s has seen several populations of this beast of myth begin to roam English and Scottish woods once more. With growing worry over the impacts on both people and the countryside, the boar's right to exist in Britain has been heavily debated. In this book, Lyons moves to the boar's stronghold of the Forest of Dean to get up close and personal with this intelligent and quirky species, and she meets with people across Britain and beyond who celebrate their presence - or want them gone.