Thames swans in a flap over river checks (From Oxford Mail)

Thames swans in a flap over river checks

10:00am Saturday 24th July 2010 in

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EVERY swan on the River Thames between Surrey and Abingdon has been weighed and checked this week, maintaining a centuries-old tradition.

Swan Upping began on Monday at Sunbury Lock, west of London, and finished in Abingdon yesterday. Oxford Mail reader Sue Hendrie, from Wallingford, photographed the scene at the town’s bridge yesterday when a swan and her cygnets tried to evade Swan Marker Martin Spencer and his colleagues.

The annual census of the swan population on the Thames in Oxfordshire and the counties along the river to London sees each family of swans weighed, measured, and checked for injuries or illness.

The ceremony dates back to the 12th century, when the Crown claimed ownership of all mute swans.