The trees are heavy with pears and the pigs are standing underneath them expectantly!
Squawking at the top of their lungs the azure blue magpies peck away at the fruit on the higher branches, more often than not dislodging one that drops to the ground to be snuffled up by one of my four girls. The pigs are also most insistent that I pull them an armful of fruit whenever I pass by, even the tiny trotters are squeaking away demanding their fill!
It’s a delight to indulge them as I yank the firm, sweet fruit from the three or four trees that sit within the pig paddock. However, there is one tree elsewhere that is laden with the best looking pears of all the trees and I have been collecting them by the bucket full to the general delight and pleasure of the porkers.
Round here the azure magpies, despite being a protected species, are often considered to be the scourge of the earth, as they have been known to swarm upon a fruit tree and strip it bare within moments. However, I decided to have a straight forward talk with them!
‘I’m happy to share the fruit with you’, I told them, ‘as you can eat the pears I can’t reach, whilst I pull all those from the low growing branches for the pigs.’ A certain amount of squawking and dismissive spitting of pith fell from the tree and then they flew off. But it has to be said that so far the birds are playing their part.
Nonetheless, it won’t be long before the crop is exhausted by all of us and then I will have to think of something else to keep the girls amused and their tummies suitably stuffed.
