Abbotsbury

The first decent run in the new car, Archie, took place on Thursday when Christiescruff and I drove down to Dorset and met up with the Spotlight Kid at Abbotsbury Swannery. We arrived before midday and so were in time to see the first swan feed of the day, where hundreds of swans are fed scoops of grain by staff and helpers, to the accompaniment of a very informative commentary. All the birds are wild, including the swans, and so the area, behind Chesil Beach, is also home to other waterfowl including geese, ducks, gulls and coots, such as this one. We undertook a looped walk around the whole Swannery.

Abbotsbury is also home to a Children's Farm which has a splendid tithe barn at its centre and is home to Shetland ponies, goats, pigs, donkeys, ponies and alpacas, including one named Red, amongst other things.

The majority of the afternoon, before going back to the Spotlight Kid's for supper, was spent at the Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, which I was told (never having been there) was similar to a smaller version of Heligan Gardens in Cornwall, and had palm trees and a wide variety of subtropical and indeed antarctic plants including some magnificent ferns. Within the gardens one could climb up to the cliff top at East Bexington and look down on the Jurassic Coast, and from where the Swannery is visible, with Portland Bay in the background (though shrouded in mist most of the time we were there). We also went down to the beach at Abbotsbury for a late picnic lunch in the sun.

Archie behaved impeccably, though the slower idling speed and rather different throttle to the Micra's caught me out from time to time leading to a tendency to stall when starting off from stationary. I was a lot more at home with the controls by the time I got back.

L.
19.8.2013

Blip #1040
Consecutive Blip #003
Day #1231

Alternatives:
Swannery
Canada Goose And Mute Swan
Crocosmia With Bee At Subtropical Gardens
Another Bee
Subtropical Gardens

A Day Trip To Abbotsbury, 8 August 2013 (Flickr set)

Lenses: Pentax 18-55mm, Sigma 70-300mm

Dorset series

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Spotlight Kid - Plan Comes Apart (2012)
Spotlight Kid are a Nottingham-based shoegaze band whose original lineup was Six By Seven drummer Chris Davis (drums), Rob McCleary & Katty Heath (formerly of Bent)(vocals), Karl Skivington & Chris Moore (guitars) and Matt Holt (bass).

One year ago: Kingsbury Water Park