Hogs Wood Traditional Cache

The Cache Container

• This is a log only cache.
• You will need your own pen.
• The cache is NOT a magnetic nano / mirco.
• You are looking for some thing a little bit larger than the standard log only nano's out there!

Parking

There is room for a single car on the bend about 10 meters or so from the cache. To park here safely you must approach the bend from Walkern. If you are coming from Stevenage, drive to Walkern, turn around somewhere safe and then head back to the cache site.

The Wild Boar

The wild boar, Sus scrofa, is a native British species. It probably became extinct as a wild species at the end of the 13th century (Yalden 1999). After this date wild boar were maintained for game and as a status symbol by introduction of new stock from France and Germany and through hybridisation with domestic and feral pigs. By the 17th century no wild boar were found in Britain, suggesting that the medieval reintroductions were not successful, possibly because of hunting pressure.

Between their medieval extinction and the 1980s, when wild boar farming began, only a handful of captive wild boar, imported from the continent, were present in Britain. Occasional escapes of wild boar from wildlife parks and private collections have occurred.

To the north west of the cache lies Pryor's Wood. When I was young this wood was called Box Wood and for some reason unknown to me the name changed around the time Great Ashby was built. It is said that the wood was also known as Hogs Wood up until the first world war. It's believed this name was due to the fact that for a short time a small number of wild boars, which had escaped from a private collection, populated the wood.

Wild Boar meat has a sweet, nutty, and intense flavour and is very high in protein. The shortage of food and eventual rationing in WW1 probably explains the demise of the boars from Hogs Wood.

Thanks