There are times when we feel that our house is like an island in a sea of pigs. They are like a tide, retreating, advancing, retreating again. Until a few days ago, we were enjoying low tide.
Close readers of the Diary will have noticed that pigs haven't been mentioned much recently. This was in the vain hope that Hughie had forgotten about us and would put his swine elsewhere. The other day he arrived with these four, erected an enclosure and then, the next day, asked whether they were still inside it.
He has half a dozen more in woodland just down the road. They are a bit larger and have execrable table manners. Hughie moved them into this field just after a new resident had moved in to an adjoining house - I suppose by way of a 'welcome to Ormsaigbeg'.
The trouble with the pigs is that they keep "firing out piglets" (to quote a local pig owner) which everyone, except me, thinks are cute. This lot are on the croft next door, and are a bewildering variety of patterns and colours. Rachael wanted to bring all eleven home.
I have nothing against pigs - in fact, I rather like bacon - and the local pigs don't cause any problems except when they escape and threaten our lovely garden. More, they are obviously very profitable for the crofters, particularly as they attract premium prices for being free-range and heather-fed. It's just that they lower the tone of the neighbourhood.
oh Jon you are such a snob when it comes to pigs ... you love the deer, the otters, the birds, but when it comes to a pig you go all priggish ... can't you learn to love them a little bit more
ReplyDeleteEnjoy reading the blog every day. The pigs are cute!
ReplyDeleteI also love reading the blog - the piglets are cute but not sure I would want the parents living too close. This entry is giving me a craving for a nice crispy bacon sandwich
ReplyDeleteIt is said that the pigs are good at removing invasive bracken. How true is this? Has the bracken returned to your neighbouring fields grubbed by pigs in the past?
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the comments.
ReplyDeleteI'll give the pigs one thing - they are an endless source of amusement. But 'cute'? Ummm, no.
Derryck - where the pigs have come back for a second go, the bracken has largely gone. But, unless the field is worked, it'll grow back. Jon
I imagine the pigs must be more profitable than sheep, I don't know why they aren't seen more around the Highlands.
ReplyDelete