Meet Lancelot, a Bewick’s Swan with an amazing track record! In 1964, when Peter Scott began encouraging wild Bewick’s Swan to winter on the lake in front of his home, he could not have imagined how familiar he would become with some of the swans over the years. Recognising that each bird had a distinct bill pattern he was able to identify, record, observe and name hundreds of individual birds. These most beautiful of swans make an extraordinary 5,000 mile round trip between Slimbridge and the Russian tundra every year and Scott was delighted when he began to see the same swans returning year after year on their epic journey.
Lancelot soon became a firm favourite, returning faithfully to Slimbridge for 23 years. He gained such a reputation that his arrival each autumn was announced in The Times newspaper. Lancelot was named after the fictitious character Lancelot Sage, who appeared in a regular column written for Yachting World magazine by Scott’s friend Keith Shackleton. Lancelot Sage was apparently a thinly disguised caricature of Peter Scott himself! This porcelain model of Lancelot can be found on display in the Scott House Museum along with hundreds more fascinating objects collected by Peter and Phillippa Scott in their lifetime.
This autumn’s first birds have now touched down in time for our 80th anniversary, so you can enjoy an afternoon tea watching them from the Peng Observatory on the 10th of November. Daily wild bird feeds start on Friday the 6th of November at 4pm — for many, the absolute highlight of a winter visit to Slimbridge.
Thank you to Chris Moore, author of "Peter Scott and the Birth of Modern Conservation", for his insight.
