Toby went the whole hog in his quest for freedom

Fiona hears of a pet boar found wandering on a main road – but unlike many pheasants, he survived his walk on the wildside...

This week, a large boar is found wandering on a main road in southern Scotland. An ear tag suggests he is called Toby and, until his owner can be traced, the animal is carefully coaxed into a nearby field. Wild boars were once extinct in Scotland. Now, there are so many, they are becoming something of a pest.

They must be hard to handle. This snorting brown bristly beast comes with tusks and can weigh twice what a man weighs.

Yet I am glad the intrepid Toby came to no harm during his alleged dash for freedom.

He can continue to dream of pastures new. Unlike the pheasants that lie squashed on the highway.

This is dead-bird season. You can slow down all you like – and, still, a foolish fowl will hurl itself at your wheels.

It is a game of dodge. Yet the losses are depressing – and it is something that is dangerous for both bird and driver.

Perhaps the feeding pens are too near the road. Maybe they need to be kept locked up for longer before being released. Then I suppose they wouldn’t be wild…

When it comes to street sense, the pheasant appears to have little of it.

It may have developed the knack of avoiding the guns. Yet out on the highway, it is the proverbial bird brain.

You might imagine it could find some sort of safety in a garden. But this week, one of the MacNaughties proudly brings one into the house.

The Cocker Spaniel has a purple-andred-feathered male in his mouth and he is reluctant to give him up.

No, Barra is not happy at having to yield his find, but after a bit of tussling, the chief is allowed to inspect.

He looks – and smells – and decides the thing has been dead for some time. Perhaps a fox did his worst. Whatever, it is not deemed fit to eat.

The bird goes out – perhaps a hawk will take it – and Barra gets a dry biscuit. Which is a poor consolation prize.

Pheasant is a favourite food in the Armstrong MacGregor household. It is a lean, free-range meat. We should eat more of it – and we do.

This week, we visit friends in Perthshire and they serve a delicious pheasant and chorizo casserole. I resolve to copy the recipe at home. Today, game is seen as a delicacy on many an inner-city dining table.

Yet it was not always so.

Wild boars were once extinct in Scotland. Now, there are so many, they are becoming something of a pest

I once interviewed an old boy who went through the Second World War.

The former soldier spent time in a German prisoner of war camp and related how basic the food was – and how others from the cities suffered badly, as they were used to rich dishes.

“But I was alright,” he said. “Because I grew up in the Scottish countryside, we didn’t expect fancy food. We were used to plain things like grouse, salmon and pheasant…”

Quite….

Wild boar were once extinct in Scotland, but that is certainly not the case nowadays.