View a YouTube video about Swan Upping:
Today, the Crown retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water, but The Queen only exercises her ownership on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries. This ownership is shared with the Worshipful Company of Vintners and the Worshipful Company of Dyers, who were granted rights of ownership by the Crown in the fifteenth century. Nowadays, of course, the swans are no longer eaten. In the Swan Upping ceremony, The Queen's Swan Marker, the Royal Swan Uppers and the Swan Uppers of the Vintners' and Dyers' livery companies use six traditional Thames rowing skiffs in their five-day journey up-river. The Queen's Swan Uppers wear traditional scarlet uniforms and each boat flies appropriate flags and pennants. When a brood of cygnets is sighted, a cry of "All up!" is given to signal that the boats should get into position. On passing Windsor Castle, the rowers stand to attention in their boat with oars raised and salute "Her Majesty The Queen, Seigneur of the Swans". The cygnets are weighed and measured to obtain estimates of growth rates and the birds are examined for any sign of injury (commonly caused by fishing hooks and line). The swans are also given a health check and ringed with individual identification numbers by The Queen's Swan Warden, a Professor of Ornithology at the University of Oxford's Department of Zoology. The swans are then set free again. Children from local schools are invited every year to watch this. At the completion of Swan Upping each year, The Queen's Swan Marker produces a report which provides data on the number of swans accounted for, including broods and cygnets. This important data enables suitable conservation methods to be used to protect the swans. A serious decline in the swan population in the mid-1980s was halted by the replacement of lead fishing weights with a non-toxic equivalent. However, growing demands for recreational use of the river by anglers and boat users has resulted in an increasingly hazardous habitat. Vandalism and the theft of cygnets also create threats to the swan population. Apart from Swan Upping, The Queen's Swan Marker has other duties. He advises organisations throughout the country on swan welfare and incidents involving swans such as vandalism. He also monitors the health of local swan populations, and briefs fishing and boating organisations on how to work with existing wildlife and maintain existing natural habitat. He works closely with swan rescue organisations and carries out the rescue of sick and injured swans, and he co-ordinates the temporary removal of swans from stretches of the Thames used for summer rowing regattas. Swan Upping takes place in the third week of July each year.
www.royalcourt.gov.uk
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