The site of an empty pig run here in Ormsaigbeg is usually a cause for celebration, but this one worried us as there was food in it, and Hughie isn't one to waste food on pigs that are off to the great abattoir in the sky. Soon after this picture was taken our worst fears were confirmed. No less than eight large piglets had escaped.
That was several days ago, and they've since been were spotted running loose in the woodland at the back of the croft. This is a huge area of mixed woodland, with thickets of brambles and acres of bracken. Even though these pigs aren't particularly well camouflaged, they could disappear in this jungle for weeks, and are entirely self sufficient in there - hence the abandoned food.
We've heard Hughie up in the woods rattling a bucket of pig pellets and calling, "Piggy, piggy, piggy. Good piggie!" and watched as the piglets came streaming down the hillside in the opposite direction to their enclosure, chuckling and grunting like a group of naughty schoolchildren. He hasn't a hope of getting them back, so we now face the prospect of feral pigs breeding up there like rabbits.
