King Charles and first “Swan Upping” of his royal reign.Photo:Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty; Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty
Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty; Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty
King Charlesis continuing a conservation tradition involving local swans.
On Monday, courtiers gave a glimpse into the Swan Upping on the River Thames with a new Instagram video. The week-long census is held each July and started on Monday, marking the first fowl count of King Charles’ reign.
Though the King, 74, didn’t attend the kickoff (which fell onQueen Camilla’sbirthday), Swan Marker David Barber led the Swan Upper squad for a toast in his honor.
While the group’s scarlet, striped and white uniforms may look formal, Swan Upping is a conservation-focused tradition that dates back centuries. It’s a little-known fact that the British sovereign has had the right to own any swan swimming in open waters throughout the United Kingdom since the year 966 AD and the reign of King Edgar “The Peaceful.”
Edgar and many monarchs that followed exercised this right to serve the birds at extravagant feasts, swans are no longer eaten as a protected species. Since the 12th century, an annual Swan Upping census has been held on the River Thames to check the population is being maintained, andQueen Elizabethfocused on a 79-mile stretch from Sunbury-on-Thames to Abingdon.
On Monday, the Swan Upping team hit the water in traditional skiffs featuring flags, pennants, swan hooks, boat hooks and oars carrying King Charles’ cypher (for the first time!) to designate that they’re working on behalf of His Majesty.
Once they come across a family of swans with cygnets, the crew of the lead boat shouts, “All up,” and the fleet gently corralled the birds in order to delicately lift them out of the water.
The swans and cygnets then had their feet or wings tied before they were moved onto the riverbank to be weighed, measured and inspected for signs of injury or illness.
Swan Uppers during the ancient tradition of Swan Upping on July 17.Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty
Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty
“The whole process, as long as there’s no serious injury on the swans, takes about 20 minutes,” Barberpreviously told PEOPLE. “All the young cygnets and adult birds have to be released together as the cygnets will get lost otherwise. So you have to be very, very careful. You face the cygnet to the parent bird and then they will go off in the water together.
The adult swans are large — weighing up to 33 lbs. with an 8-foot wingspan — but the practice is well worthwhile.
“It’s worth doing because if we didn’t, the population of swans would just gradually disappear,” the Swan Marker said.
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Swan Upping is also educational. The Swan Uppers always make sure to involve as many local school kids as possible in the weighing and measuring so they can learn about conservation, the makeup of the River Thames, and the lifecycle of the swans themselves. And the Uppers have passed on their knowledge to the royal family too!
Queen attends the annual Swan Upping in 2009.Sang Tan/PA Images/Getty
“The Queen visited swan upping in 2009,” Barber told PEOPLE. “She came along and was very interested in all the processes that we were doing. Asked lots of questions. Met lots of children.”
“She actually went in my rowing skiff and sat next to me as we rowed up the river. She took a lot of interest in it all,” he said.
Princess Anne at the Swan Upping on the River Thames in 2018.Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty
Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty
source: people.com
