The heat is on

Well doesn't the time fly ?! July already, half the year gone and the long evenings starting to slip away again. Not that we've been sitting around doing nothing, oh no plenty of goings on here. The best news is that me, Valentine and Doris have moved to our new summer quarters. It's lovely, lots of shade, a big house for shelter and grass as high as our shoulders - we're as happy as pigs in clover!


Spot was due to join us but on her first day out here she wandered into the electric fence - I always said those lop ears were a liability - now any normal pig would have squealed and jumped back from it. Not Spot, no she jumped forwards straight through the fence and didn't stop running till she got to the far end of the biggest field on the farm. Now I don't want to be disloyal, but she'd never run further than from her bed to the food dish before and no-one should attempt such a long sprint without warming up properly and some training. Once she was finally retrieved and returned to the farmyard she'd pulled a muscle so she's back on bedrest for a little while.


When I last blogged all my piglets were out and about, I do love to see them playing in the sunshine. However once they try to leave down the drive or dig up too many grass verges the time has come to pen them in. I currently have 25 of my beautiful children spread around the pigsties, still it keeps the children busy doing all that mucking out.




The first broody hen has managed to hatch 3 chicks which are now growing fast. They have their own run right at the front of the house with a very grand view - however it's not on quite such a slope as the picture implies, a slip of the trotter there.




Down in the other shed there's a whole box of broodies - how they'll ever tell whose chicks are whose if anything hatches I've no idea. Maybe they'll do childcare in shifts - not such a bad idea. I leave it to the ladies of course, but they do mention it can be a little tiring.




Every evening as we have a late night supper we watch the bats flying around the hedges and along the moat. The local bat experts have been to check on the roost and the children were allowed to see them all hanging up, (strange way to sleep but I suppose it means you never have to change any bedding) then sat in the garden with special bat boxes so they could hear them as they flew out for their evening feeding. Anyway news reached us that there are more bats than ever - 86 were counted, the 17th largest roost in the country! Lesser Horseshoe they call them and apparently they're quite special. As long as they keep flying over each evening and eating all the midges then that's good enough for us pigs.


With all the hot days the sheep were very relieved when they got taken next door for shearing, they positively skipped back into the orchard and for a while were as lively as the lambs.






One patriotic ewe was flying the England flag - however apparently it didn't do the trick....







For the rest of us the best we can do is hide in the shade during the heat of the day. The horses are gradually working themselves further into the hedge.







And when it's really hot only mad dogs and Wick Court farmers go out in the midday sun. After a hot, sweaty climb to the top of Barrow Hill, there's really only one way to get down the other side.....






The sunshine is of course working it's magic in the vegetable garden, apparently the children have already had fresh runner beans this week. Hopefully there'll soon be some that get too big that we'll have to help with.









For now we'll make do with those rather moreish pig nuts and the delicious grazing all around us.
Stay cool
Boris