Country diary: When wild swans need a human hand | Sara Hudston

Abbotsbury, Dorset: The swannery has been here since the 11th century, and this winter, after the storms harmed the flock's feeding, it came into its ownThe sea is rough and turbid, with big, grey waves breaking white all along the pebbled length of Chesil Beach, but the water in the lagoon behind is merely ruffled. Here at the westernmost end, the shore is white not with surf but with hundreds of mute swans.There has been a swannery at Abbotsbury since the 11th century, when Benedictine monks began to manage the wild swans that gathered on the sheltered Fleet lagoon. To this day, cygnets hatching here belong not to the crown, but to descendants of the Strangways family, who have managed the flock for 15 generations. Continue reading...