AB the Boar Cull, that faceless group of anarchists hiding behind a cloak of anonymity, continue to make excuses for the boar.

Now they claim that shooting the boar is driving them into more populated areas.

The Dean covers a large area and the Forestry Commission has only a few people actually carrying out the cull. Certainly not enough to make this claim feasible.

Perhaps a more realistic explanation was given by retired agricultural environmentalist Alison Tottenham in a recent letter to the Review.

She pointed out that boar have discovered areas of short grass are a good place to look for earthworms.

Now that they have destroyed most of the verges tended so lovingly by the Forest sheep, they are moving into settlements with their gardens, sports grounds etc.

Sheep, too, prefer shorter grass and maybe the loss of verge-side grazing has prompted their move into settled areas.

Kev ’n’ Dave would surely turn in their graves if they could see the current state of the once beautiful roadsides they tended so carefully.

- T Haile, Monmouth.