Swan
Corralling
in Dorset
By Jenny Dale
and rear hatches with dry clothing, a tent, cooking stove,
food, drinking water and very basic camping toiletries. I had
signed up, along with a few other intrepid fellow paddlers,
to camp overnight at Shipmoor Point, overlooking the water.
We would then keep an eye on the inflatable barricade that
would be dragged across the width of the water overnight to
prevent any swans from doubling back behind us.
Several organisers were already on the water, sorting the
keen paddlers into some semblance of a line across the width
of the water. Loud hailers were used during the day to keep
stragglers up with the main body of kayakers; the plan being
to prevent a break out from the swans we could see paddling
serenely ahead of us.
We had only been on The Fleet for a
couple of hours before relentless rain
started to hammer down. Those of us
with good quality cags were extremely
grateful for their protection against
the dismal, unseasonal deluge.
We were all happy to stop for lunch at the Moonfleet Hotel,
where the considerate owners had allocated us a large room
where we could drip and steam, away from the normally well
dressed, and much drier, usual clientele of the establishment.
Hot chocolates, teas and coffees were ordered as some very
wet people found dry clothing to change into. Buoyancy
aids and spray decks were piled high in the continuing rain
outside the door.
Late July should have been the perfect
time of year to get involved in the biennial
volunteer event organised by Abbotsbury
Swannery. In typically British tradition,
the blustery grey Friday morning when
70 kayakers grouped together at Wyke
Regis military training camp, was more
reminiscent of a damp chilly day in March.
It was certainly a challenge to get back into the wet gear and
tramp down a slippery, muddy path to the myriad colours
and shapes of the waiting kayaks lining the grey shore.
However, once back on the water, the skies lightened and the
rain eased off. Spirits were raised as we spotted large groups
of swans heading slowly away from us, in the right direction
thankfully. During the next couple of hours, a number of
paddlers were periodically directed around a small bay where
several small flocks of birds were grouped together. Slowly
and calmly the paddlers persuaded them to head their way
up the water away from us towards the Swannery.
The miserable conditions however, failed to dampen the
spirits of the largest group of keen paddlers I have ever seen
in one place.
We were all there, from a number of different canoe clubs
across the region, having been invited by the Swannery to
assist with the safe and stress-free corralling of around 700
mute swans during their flight feather moulting season. Our
remit – to simply paddle slowly in a line across the width
of the water over two days, (merely seven miles of the
Fleet lagoon) to ensure all the swans were amassed at
Abbotsbury Swannery.
Due to our launch being from a military base positioned on
the edge of The Fleet, we only had 15 minutes to get all the
kayakers vehicles into the base, with another 45 minutes to
unload and for our drivers to remove their cars from the site.
I had packed my kayak (a second hand Dagger Charleston)
the night before; filling every available space in the front
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Canoe Focus Autumn 2016
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