A flock of fun

Swans have, for as long as I can remember, been my favorite animal.  My father gave me a statue of some when I was young and this set off a collection of swans that over took my mother’s china cabinet until I left for college and she thought I wouldn’t notice if she boxed them all up and ‘kept them safe’ until I had a house of my own.  (Little did she see coming that she would send them to me and four years later I’d send them all back, along with 90% of my other worldly possessions, for ‘safe keeping’.)

The city of Wells about 45 minutes south of us is known for two things.  First the filming of Hot Fuzz, if you love a good British comedy, go rent this movie; and second, the swans which live in the moat at the Bishop’s Palace.  The swans over the years have been trained to ring a bell to ask for food and one year in the annual moat race, a swan was said to have pecked at the paddle of one of the teams prior to the race giving the other team a significant advantage of not having holes in the oars during the race.

As part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations this year, the city made 5ft fiberglass swan sculptures, one for each of the 60 years of the Queen's reign, which they had local artists, businesses, and children decorate however they wished.  The swans are currently on display throughout town; in September they will have a swanning up to be auctioned off for charity.  The Swansong Gala Auction (I’m telling you, the swan jokes could go on all day) will be held the last weekend of September.

Luckily (for Adam) we went on a drizzly day.  We only found 29 (well, 28 + 1 that had gone for a swim somewhere) of the 60 before the rain became too much for us to stand walking through.  Take a gander (sorry, I switched to geese jokes…) at the Swans of Wells Facebook page for any of the ones we missed.