Where to catch the Swan Uppers today
The Swan Uppers reach our part of the River Thames today. It is a colourful traditional spectacle that always draws a crowd of onlookers.
Swan Upping always takes place in the third week of July. The Swan Uppers, dressed in uniform, travel in six traditional wooden skiffs, two each for The Crown and the Vintners and the Dyers livery companies, with each boat flying the appropriate flags and pennants.
Swan Upping plays an important role in the conservation of the mute swan and involves The Queen’s Swan Warden collecting data, assessing the health of young cygnets and examining them for any injuries. Cygnets are extremely vulnerable at this early stage in their development and Swan Upping affords an opportunity to help both adults and cygnets that might otherwise go untreated.
Once ashore, the birds are examined by The Queen’s Swan Warden for disease or injury. They are also weighed and measured to assess their growth rate. All data is recorded for the future benefit of the swan population. The most common cause of injury is fishing tackle; swans often swallow baited hooks or swim through fishing lines and become entangled. Some of the more minor injuries can be dealt with on the riverbank, but others, such as a swallowed hook may require an expensive operation and a long period of recuperation, and for this the birds have to be taken to a rescue organisation for treatment.
The Queen’s Swan Marker establishes the ownership of the parent birds and determines how ownership of the brood should be allocated. The Swan Markers of the two Livery Companies then place their rings on the cygnets’ legs. The Swan Uppers return the brood to the river, taking care that the cygnets do not become separated from their parents. At this stage, the cygnets are still largely covered with down as they have not yet grown their first feathers.
On locating a family of swans, the Uppers give the cry “All-Up!” and the boats converge on the brood and surround it, gradually closing in until the birds can be lifted from the water. The swans are taken ashore for examination and marking. Originally, the two companies made their own marks on the birds’ beaks; one nick for a Dyers’ bird and two for a Vintners’. Today, the two companies use their own rings. The Crown’s swans are now left unmarked.
Formerly Swan Upping took place between London and Henley, but nowadays the journey begins at Sunbury and ends at Abingdon. The Uppers take five days to cover the 79 miles.
They are expected to arrive at Goring Lock at around 5pm.
Thursday, July 21
Sonning-on-Thames 9am –Departure point
Caversham Lock 10.15am
Mapledurham Lock 12.30pm
Goring Lock 5pm
Moulsford 6pm
