Royal Swan Upping
Swan on the River
photograph © Chris Parry 2004
Every year, during a week in mid-July when the cygnets are about two months old, the annual swan marking begins at Sunbury and finishes at Abingdon Bridge. This tradition, dating from the 12th century, saw Britain's largest bird being examined for beak marks which distinguish the unmarked royal swans from the beak nicks of the ancient Vintners and Dyers birds, the only survivors of the various bodies formerly entitled to swan rights on the River Thames. It has always been the duty of the sovereign's swan marker to count the new cygnets each year and to maintain their overall population. In days gone by, the swans used to be eaten as a delicacy at feasts and banquets.
Swan upping has maintained much of the ceremonial tradition, but it has evolved into an opportunity to monitor the welfare of the swan population. There is a constant increase in the volume of river traffic and number of anglers, which makes for a potentially hazardous environment for the birds. Several are found to have hooks in their beaks, webs and wings or are entangled in fishing line. Those birds with serious injuries, such as one with a hook right down its throat, are taken to the National Swan Sanctuary at Eton for treatment.
The swans are surrounded by the boats of the swan uppers and each swan is lifted on board, ringed, logged and checked over before it is left to go on its way. Finding and handling the birds, which can have a wing span of up to three metres, is a skilled job done by men who work as lightermen and watermen the rest of the year round. All of them are given the title of Freeman of the River Thames before they can become a swan upper.
The annual procession of six wooden skiffs, headed by the Queen's Swan Marker, and with the distinctive crested flags of the swan uppers attached to their sterns, passes through Marlow Lock before going on to Marlow Rowing Club. They depart from the Compleat Angler Hotel the following morning to continue their task up-river.
An unusual tourist attraction for Marlow, sightseers can distinguish between the participants because wardens of the Crown wear red jerseys and the Queen's Swan Marker sports a red braided jacket and a hat with a swan's feather in it. Vintner wardens are in green and the Dyers wear their blue livery.
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