Abbotsbury Swannery

Located on a 1-hectare (2-acre) site around the Fleet Lagoon protected from the weather of Lyme Bay by Chesil Beach, it is the only managed swannery in the world, and can number over 600 swans with around 150 pairs.

The Benedictine monastery of St. Peter's was established on the site in the eleventh century when King Cnut gave the land to his steward, Orc, and the monks managed the swans as a ready source of meat for use at their lavish banquets.

[1] The site was then purchased by Sir Giles Strangways, and has remained in the ownership of the Strangways family through fifteen generations up to the present day; an estate of some 61 square kilometres (15,000 acres) in Dorset covering Chesil Beach and Abbotsbury is still held by the Ilchester Estate owned by Mrs Charlotte Townshend, the daughter of the 9th Viscount Galway, a descendant of the first Countess of Ilchester.

Before viewing the swans, visitors can look at the Decoyman's House which sets the scene for the visit with a display explaining how the colony has been managed over the years and how the present situation has evolved.

However, the closeness of the nests can sometimes lead to problems as newly hatched cygnets can become attached to the wrong parent bird; to overcome this, rearing pens are used for a few selected families who need more privacy.