Swan parent and child – with big feet and no feathers to hide them under…
I had heard of Abbotsbury Swannery years ago but had no idea what part of the country it was in. So I was surprised to find (from various Dorset bloggers) that it was near Weymouth and within reach of my annual visit to Poole.
I had visualised the place as a little abbey with a handful of swans in a pond or moat alongside – but how wrong I was!
There are more than a few swans on the beach at Abbotsbury!
Abbotsbury is a picturesque village with several tourist attractions that have got together so you can buy a “passport” admitting you to all of them cheaper than paying individually for them all. Even though we were visiting only two of them – the swannery and sub-tropical gardens (about which more in another post) – it still worked out cheaper to get the passport. We skipped the Children’s Farm.
For our old legs the main attractions were not really within easy walking distance of each other, but there was ample free parking (sorry to be so environmentally unfriendly).
Abbotsbury Swannery is on a lagoon separated from the sea by the remarkable Chesil Beach – whose name comes from the Old English ceosel or cisel, meaning “gravel” or “shingle”. This narrow bank protects the swannery and has impounded a stretch of brackish water since the end of the last Ice Age. This shallow lagoon is called the Fleet and developed a vast area of weed, which in turn attracted the “mute” swans (Cygnus olor) here to breed. These are by no means silent, but quieter than noisy whooper and Bewick’s swans.
That’s Chesil Beach, beyond the Fleet…
Benedictine Monks built a monastery at Abbotsbury during the 1040s and took advantage of the colony of swans, farming them to produce food for their not-so-humble banquets. St Peter’s monastery was destroyed in 1539 during the dissolution of monasteries by Henry VIII. Some of the ruins are still visible in the village.
Commissioner Sir Giles Strangways helped Henry VIII see off the monasteries and a few years later he bought the Manor of Abbotsbury. Since then the swannery has been under the stewardship of his family, which took the name of the Ilchester estates after one of his descendants became Earl of Ilchester in 1756.
The swannery is beside the sea but surrounded by green countryside
It’s reasonably well known that the Crown still has the right to lay claim to all “wild” mute swans in England, but there are a few notable exceptions such as here at Abbotsbury and among the “swan-uppers” of the Worshipful Companies of Vintners and Dyers on the River Thames.
Anyway, to our visit, on a sunny late July day…
Swannery sculptor Paul Cooper carved this mute swan cob (male) from Cotswold stone in 1995. It stands near the entrance to the swannery
From the entrance there is a pleasant path to the nest site, so you can get your bearings and appreciate the green surrounding countryside.
First we came to a small marquee with a static display of birds from the Wessex Bird of Prey Rescue group…
Here’s a male ferruginous buzzard (Buteo regalis) called Rodney
Then we started to see swans and other wildfowl in the gentle stream flowing down to the Fleet…
I’m annoyed I couldn’t get this framed quite right!
A family of ducks…
On the way to the nest site we passed between the rearing pens. These give food and protection to the more vulnerable families of swans that have only small nesting sites in the middle of the colony or are otherwise threatened. The stronger swans can have huge territories and act very aggressively towards rivals. Sometimes cygnets whose parents can’t cope with them are also fostered with other families in the pens.
Family in one of the rearing pens…
Another view of the luxury accommodation of the rearing pens…
A plaque remembering Frank Lexster – known as Leckie – swanherd from 1950 to 1975…
We had timed our visit to catch feeding time for the colony of swans on the shore of the Fleet and we just made the 12noon feed. Another happens at 4pm.
Birds in the pens are fed with the green weed you can see here floating on the water…
The adult birds on the beach are fed with grain…
Children are invited to help with the feeding…
Some swans help themselves…
Oh, but I forgot to mention the geese – there are hundreds of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) here, taking advantage of the food…
Canada geese alongside the swans’ nesting site…
There is also a bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) and a coot (Fulica atra) caught up in this stampede of Canada geese…
After feeding time we wandered back and appreciated the habitat among the reeds and willows…
Away from the glare of the beach there are shady places for the swans and ducks…
Ponds and reed beds…
Scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis)…
Yellow lichen on a dead willow…
An old but still living willow…
Ivy on willow…
I think this is hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum)…
I waited and waited for this small tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) to open its wings…
…and then I missed it!
I think this is common burdock (Arctium pubens)…
Thanks to Chloris over at thebloominggarden.wordpress.com for identifying this for me as marsh mallow, Althaea officinalis…
This is probably hogweed?
Hoverfly on what may be fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica)?
A tunnel-trap is these days used to funnel wildfowl for ringing purposes, rather than to catch them for food!
A thatched building houses a small display about the reedbeds…
The reeds used hereabouts for thatching are known as Abbotsbury Spear…
As we were about to walk back on the long path to the exit, the tractor shuttle came along, so we hopped onto the trailer for 50p for the wobbly trip back. When the tractor reached the entrance it did a sharp turn, whacking into the shrubbery, and I was wonderfully shocked by the sudden smell of lavender…
Large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae) on lavender…
As we drove away, I made a special effort to take a picture through the car window of St Catherine’s Chapel on the hill nearby…
St Catherine’s Chapel overlooking Abbotsbury
I know nothing about this chapel but it has always looked great in these Abbotsbury blog posts by Sarah at Down by the Sea in Dorset.
These two links are also worth checking out:
Here are some wonderful pictures showing a sea of thrift on Chesil Beach in May, on Lucy’s Loose and Leafy blog.
Steve Groves is deputy swanherd at Abbotsbury and also records other bird sightings on his excellent blog stevesswannerysightings.blogspot.co.uk.
The Squirrelbasket 
Wonderful photos! I don’t know what the white flower is. . Don’t recognize it growing here. Swans and geese don’t get along here. . Maybe the abundance of food makes everyone friendly.
I think you are right about the abundance of food. Even the swans seemed to get on with each other – but I guess it’s different in the nesting season…
All the best 🙂
What a beautiful place this is Pat. Your excellent photo’s certainly bring it to life on the net. Thanks for sharing. Did you hear about the Sunken Kingdom discovered on Borth beach. ? I blogged about it and titled it ” WHERE I ONCE WALKED ” because many times I took my kids to Borth and walked that same beach. You never know where you are walking do you.
We had a story in one of our newspapers, the Western Mail, about Borth Beach a while back. But I hadn’t seen anything more recently until you mentioned it. Did you also see it on this Mother Nature Network site this week? Some great pictures there.
For those who are interested, here is the link to your own “Where I once walked” blog post.
I must pay more attention to your blog – I thought I was following it and would therefore receive an email every time you posted, which I haven’t. But now I start to realise that perhaps with other WordPress blogs I have to look in my WordPress “reader”. I will investigate – and catch up with the fascinating posts I can now see I have been missing.
All the best 🙂
Oh my – what a wonderful place with such an interesting history. ~Dorset seems to have so much to offer I really must visit one day.
Yes, I feel Dorset is very much undersold!
All the best 🙂
The Swannery is a lovely place and you have captured it well. If you visit Abbotsbury again, the walk up to St Catherine’s Chapel is well worth doing as the views are excellent.
It’s also difficult to imagine that during WW2 the very peaceful Fleet was used for a while to test the bouncing bombs that were eventually used in the Dam Busters raid. I wonder what the swans thought?
I’d forgotten that bouncing bombs story!
I’ve just been looking at your blog – so much good stuff there. I am now following and will Tweet your “queen of seaweeds” post later today…
All the best 🙂
Thanks for following my blog and for the tweet about the “queen of seaweeds”. Philip
An interesting post about a wonderful place. Your mystery plant looks like Marsh Mallow: Althaea officinalis.
Gosh, looks like it IS marsh mallow! Quite similar in the pictures, although I had always thought mallows were pink and these were white.
Thanks for that!
All the best 🙂
By a wonderful coincidence, a few weeks ago we were walking by the Fleet in Dorset, East of the Swannery. I saw some white flowers near the water’s edge by the Moonfleet Hotel but was unable to identify them at the time – from your picture and the comment from Chloris I now know they were marsh mallow!
Glad Chloris could help us both – although I must admit it wasn’t a plant I had EVER seen before and I though all mallows were pink…
All the best 🙂
Great place to visit, you have some lovely photos…liking the flowers.
Amanda xx
Thanks for that. I still have in my head the quiet place it was…
All the best 🙂