RectoryReserve wishes to announce.....

To Ginger and Mangel several sons and daughters!

Congratulations from all at the RectoryReserve.

....

Little did we know what was in store (or sty?) for us this morning. All looked and sounded pretty normal yesterday evening when we did our rounds before bedtime. It was still very quiet when we went out at 8 a.m. "Pigs still asleep" I muttered to myself as I opened up the various poultry houses. "Nothing unusual there then."

Mangel, Wurzel and Pepper eventually surfaced from the big ark. Did their usual ablutions and prepared themselves for breakfast.

Suddenly Ginger ran up snorting and grunting, looking and sounding most agitated. Then off she ran, all in a state, back to the small ark. Once inside, all we could hear was a great cacophany of grunting, snorting, squealing. "Something's up" we said to each other. Each too worried to voice our worst fears. He was rooted to the spot. I had to investigate. Rushing over as fast as I could without frightening the poor girl, I peered inside the ark. (Mental note to get electrician to install lighting next time he comes). It's pretty gloomy in there. It took a while for my eyes to accustom themselves to the relative darkness and for my ears to hear what they thought they were hearing.

Well - I just could not believe it. I checked and double-checked; ran through all the other possibilities in my head........

"She's had piglets" I yelled - slightly subdued but in, nonetheless, great paroxysms of excitement and disbelief.

"What?" cried he in (almost) equal disbelief.

"She's had piglets".....

"But she's not due for at least another 5 or 6 weeks - I thought" said he....

"Fat lot we know...." said I. "What do we do now???" "Don't know" says he "I haven't read that chapter yet!".

Well, now we have read it.... and heartily wish we hadn't. We've hardly relaxed all day.

But, nothing we can do. The little ones are about the size of rabbits and stripey grey and cream. But that's as much as we know for now. Even if Ginger would let us, the ark's a bit small for us to get in there and check things out. She seems to have it all under control. How did she manage to deliver her brood with the boys looking on in the night? Perhaps they slept through it all? Exactly how many are there? Maybe we'll see a bit more tomorrow. For now, this is the best photo I could get of the proud mum - look closely and you can just about make out a little smidgen of piglet tucked behind her right ear. I don't know about her, but I doubt we'll sleep a wink all night.

The boys, meanwhile, have spent the best part of the day on the other side of the fence behind the ark, grunting and snorting in unison - we've dubbed them the Three Tonners.

Official photos of family to follow.....