A new arrival at Lambriggan Court

Tuesday came and went with no sign of our very rare nene(pronounced nay-nay) goose egg hatching. Wednesday was really the last day that we were hoping would result in a gosling but we were kept waiting until late afternoon when Jon announced when 'candling' the egg that the beak was now in the air-sac. An extremely important move because if this doesn't happen then there will not be a hatching.
By bed-time the whole beak was well into the air-sac and we could hear the faint tap , tap , tapping from the inside of the egg . At one point with this very rare egg to my ear the telephone rang and I was in a bit of a dilemma whether to put the egg down or answer the phone which I just knew was going to be a guest looking for accommodation. I usually always put the guest first even if it means putting dinner or a shower on stand by - other bed and breakfast owners will recognise this situation- but I am afraid in this instance the ne-ne goose egg pipped everyone else to the post and I missed the phone call ( Jon would be relieved to hear this). Luckily the guest phoned back later and I was able to explain , much to his great amusement!
The ne-ne gosling was obviously very active during the night and to our great relief and delight we had an exhausted but live ne-ne gosling at 6.30am this morning when Jon went to make a cup of tea.
The first thing our guests wanted to know this morning was had the egg hatched? We were able to show them our new addition - only two and a half hours old - whereupon the gentleman proceeded to take lots of photos . His holiday snaps will certainly be different from the usual ones. Not many people will be returning from Cornwall with photographs of such a bird that is still rare enough to be on the endangered species list!
As I write this our little gosling is stretched out quite happily under the heat lamp after having sips of water every couple of hours and this afternoon has had his first taste of chick crumb mixed with water.
I am sure the neighbours will be round tonight to 'wet the baby's head' ( any excuse will do ) and our guests this weekend will have an added bonus to their stay at Lambriggan Court.
All in all a good day's work.