Swan uppers put on their jackets in Romney lock ready to drink the loyal toast

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Swan Upping has taken place every July on the River Thames for hundreds of years, although it has changed considerably. The Queen's swan uppers (in red), together with those of the Dyers (in blue) and Vintners (white) Guilds, set out from Sunbury and travel upriver for five days. When they see cygnets, they surround and capture them and the parent swans. The swans are then given a quick health check, the cygnets are weighed, measured and noted in the record books and are ringed. Any unringed adult birds caught are also ringed, otherwise the ring numbers are noted. As well as providing a colourful riverside spectacle, the upping also acts as a useful environmental survey and the Queen's Swan Marker carries out educational work with schools along the route. The Queen's Swan Warden who oversees the survey is a professor of zoology at Oxford University.

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Size: 5040px × 3347px
Location: Romney Lock, River Thames, Windsor, Berkshire, England
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: blue, boats, british, colourful, dyers, guild, lock, loyal, queen, red, river, romney, rowing, runnemede, skiffs, stand, swan, thames, toast, tradition, uppers, upping, vintners, watermen, whisky, white, windsor