Something in the undergrowth

I heard it before I saw it: a steady rustle and snuffle moving through the scrub, unhurried, the sound of an animal that is not worried about anything. Then a dark shape between the stems, a long snout, and small eyes looking straight back at me.

Wild boar are far more common than people think and far less seen. They are mostly active at dawn and dusk and they keep to cover. This one was out in full daylight, rooting through the leaf litter with the sun behind it.

It looked at me, decided I was nothing, and carried on. I took that as a compliment.