A close encounter with a sturgeon

We both agreed that another trip to a Historic house was required on such a lovely afternoon as this. I had lazed around this morning and read a very recent Rebus novel by Ian Rankin, the first I had tried fro some years. It was just what I wanted at the moment and was just right for a long loll in a bath.

We headed off after a light lunch in a southerly direction towards Malmesbury on the northern borders of Wiltshire. I have visited it often but have never actually been to the Abbey Gardens, which are now rather well known because of the owners who like to practice their gardening in the nude. The famous abbey is very impressive despite it being a shadow of its former self with only part of the building complete and functioning.

We parked below the high ground at the centre of the town where the Abbey dominates the skyline and walked along and then across the quite small river Avon and climbed the steps up to the Abbey Gardens house. The building which is adjacent to the Abbey, was formerly occupied by monks of whom the most well known must be the FlyingMonk iof Malmesbury. Today a wedding party was using the main house and some of the gardens but we were still able to wander in peace around the lovely grounds.

The sun was shining brightly in a nearly cloudless sky so the conditions were a trifle bright for pictures in the garden. I got absorbed by a giant tortoise which was in a wooden fenced area of the lawns with a large pile of vegetable scraps to eat and sun to warm its back. I took a few pictures of its amazing head and marvelled at its shell and robust legs and toes. They are such ancient forms.

Then we went to the cafe set beside the house and surrounded by wooden framed structures from which climbing plants abound, as they do in many parts of the gardens. I became absorbed by the huge fish tank which had a small waterfall providing running water and a mass of fish. I first saw Koi Carp in large numbers and of all sizes, some being enormous. Then I saw a range of smaller fish of different types intermingling with the carp.

It took me a while to notice that at the edge of the tank where old oak boards allowed you to lean over and look into the water, a big fish seemed to pop up on odd occasions and push its head out of the water and slide along the length of the tank. It was only then that I saw that it was really big and possibly two or three times the size of the Carp. I started to try to catch as sight of it with my camera but it was quite hard as it only surfaced occasionally. Finally some other people bought some special fish food and when they scattered it, the Sturgeon as I now knew it to be, came up very close to where I was and I could look straight into its eye through the lens. I had to blip this as I love the reflections that have also been recorded from the film of water sliding over its scales. You may well see what I saw if you go for a LARGE view (press the 'L' key).

We went to the outer regions of the gardens and saw the wilder parts back down beside the river Avon. I hope to add a few other pictures tomorrow on a Flickr gallery, as well as a shot of a very tame robin that came up very close to us as we walked back to the house to head home.

I have added a link here to a wiki entry about Sturgeons. It mentions that Sturgeon have been referred to as "primitive fishes" because their morphological characters have remained relatively unchanged since the earliest fossil record. That is much like the tortoise which I imagine also probably featured in the fossil records.