WILD boar have been sighted again in Oxfordshire.

Crucially, one resident has also reported seeing baby boar, indicating there could be a breeding population in the county.

Oxfordshire County Council’s rights of way officer has now put up signs warning dog walkers and ramblers to take extra care if they see one of the beasts.

The latest reports come from the woods around the village of Freeland in West Oxfordshire, just a few miles from where boar were last reported on part of Blenheim Palace’s estate in Woodstock in November.

The sightings were reported to Freeland Parish Council clerk Lisa Smith, who passed them to the county council.

Part of the reason she was keen to raise the alarm was that she believes she has heard the boar in those woods herself.

Ms Smith said: “Two residents told us they have seen boar on two different occasions a few weeks ago in Freeland.

“One was an adult and one was baby size in the woods at the back of Broadmarsh Lane.”

Ms Smith said she was especially worried because the preschool in Freeland used part of those woods for a regular forest school.

She went on: “These latest residents were pretty adamant it was a boar not a muntjac.

“I also walk my dog in those woods over the weekend, and you can hear grunting noises which aren’t like a deer.

“There is definitely something in those woods, and it is a worry.”

County rights of way officer Sarah Aldous put up posters in the area on Friday.

In them, she warns that sows with young piglets are potentially more dangerous than other boar because they may attempt to defend their young.

The poster advises: “Avoid walking in areas known or suspected to be occupied by wild boar during this period (February to May).

“In particular, avoid dense woodland or other thick cover as such areas are favoured as resting and breeding sites.

“If you see wild boar, do not approach them; if possible leave the area by the same route you approached by, or make a detour giving the animals a wide berth.”

She also advises dog walkers to keep their pets on a lead at all times, and if their dog should chase a boar, not to follow it.

In November, a couple in an isolated cottage just north of the Blenheim Palace estate said they heard one of the beasts in their garden.

Esme and Scott Millar said they heard the snuffling and grunting on three nights in one week.

In 2015, a dog walker raised the alarm after having a close encounter with a boar on a footpath in North Leigh – five miles south of the Millars and just a mile to the west of Freeland.

In January 2015 a man was killed in a car crash on the M4 near Swindon after a wild boar ran into the road.