{"id":265877,"date":"2025-07-15T03:21:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T03:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/265877\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T03:21:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T03:21:14","slug":"king-charles-annual-swan-census-begins-on-river-thames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/265877\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles’ annual swan census begins on River Thames"},"content":{"rendered":"

The River Thames has transformed into a whirl of scarlet uniforms and wooden skiffs for King Charles III’s annual swan census.<\/p>\n

Known as “Swan Upping”, the five-day census to assess the health of the king’s swans began in London on Monday, local time.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

An official holds a swan during the Swan Upping event. (Reuters: Isabel Infantes)<\/p>\n

One of the monarch’s lesser-known titles is Seigneur of the Swans (Lord of the Swans).<\/p>\n

According to ancient lore, he or she owns all members of the mute swan species found in Britain’s open waters.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The census runs for five days. (Reuters: Isabel Infantes)<\/p>\n

Every year, a team of carefully selected oarsmen \u2014 Swan Uppers \u2014 are tasked with finding the swans on a stretch of the Thames.<\/p>\n

When a family is spotted, they shout, “All up!” and the boats quickly surround the birds, marking them and checking for signs of disease or injury.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Officials hold swans during the annual swan census. (Reuters: Isabel Infantes)<\/p>\n

“It gives us an indication of what’s going on throughout the country,” said David Barber, who wears a scarlet jacket and a white swan feather in his cap and bears the title of king’s swan marker.<\/p>\n

“It’s a tradition, but I think it’s serving a very useful purpose as well.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr Barber has been leading the event for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Sovereign’s swan marker, David Barber. (AP Photo: Thomas Krych)<\/p>\n

He is accompanied by a vet and oarsmen dressed in three colours: red for the king, white for the Worshipful Company of Vintners and blue stripes for the Worshipful Company of Dyers.<\/p>\n

The last two are medieval London trade guilds that were granted ownership of some Thames swans in the 15th century.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Swan Upping is held along the River Thames near Windsor. (Reuters: Isabel Infantes)<\/p>\n

The census tradition dates back to the 12th century, when swans were considered an important food for royal banquets and feasts.<\/p>\n

While swans are now legally protected from hunting, they face threats from disease, pollution, vandalism and cruelty, Mr Barber said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Barber holds a cygnet during the annual swan census. (Reuters: Isabel Infantes)<\/p>\n

Their numbers have declined over the past two years, primarily due to outbreaks of avian flu across Britain, according to officials.<\/p>\n

Mr Barber said only 86 young swans were found during last year’s Swan Upping, which was 45 per cent fewer than the year before that.<\/p>\n

But the king’s swan marker appeared positive at the end of the event’s first day, with a total of 16 young swans recorded.<\/p>\n

ABC\/Reuters<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The River Thames has transformed into a whirl of scarlet uniforms and wooden skiffs for King Charles III’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[98118,7709,101420,7730,7731,1760,518,257,134,7710,519,20062,101421],"class_list":{"0":"post-265877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-goodnews","9":"tag-british-royal-family","10":"tag-census","11":"tag-charles","12":"tag-charles-iii","13":"tag-king-charles","14":"tag-king-charles-iii","15":"tag-london","16":"tag-river-thames","17":"tag-royal-families","18":"tag-royal-family","19":"tag-swan","20":"tag-swan-upping"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114855104411556664","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}