{"id":18938,"date":"2017-07-21T19:01:38","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T18:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=18938"},"modified":"2017-07-21T19:01:38","modified_gmt":"2017-07-21T18:01:38","slug":"swan-upping-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=18938","title":{"rendered":"Swan Upping 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag17\/17072114.jpg\" alt=\"Swan Upping 2017\" \/><br \/>\nOn Friday 21st July 2017 the annual Swan Upping arrived at Abingdon, completing a five day journey up the Thames.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag17\/17072113.jpg\" alt=\"Swan Upping 2017\" \/><br \/>\n2017 was a relatively good year with more swans counted than the previous three years.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag17\/17072111.jpg\" alt=\"Swan Upping 2017\" \/><br \/>\nAt Abingdon Marina two cygnets and a father swan were caught near the slipway. Their mother was nowhere to be seen.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag17\/17072110.jpg\" alt=\"Swan Upping 2017\" \/><br \/>\nDavid Barber, the Queen&#8217;s Swan Marker, and the Queen&#8217;s swan uppers were accompanied by swan uppers from both the Vintners&#8217; and Dyers&#8217; livery companies. Some swans are marked for the Queen and others for the Vintners&#8217; or Dyers&#8217; depending on parentage.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag17\/17072107.jpg\" alt=\"Swan Upping 2017\" \/><br \/>\nThe swan and cygnets were assessed for signs of disease and injury, then weighed and ringed with identification numbers. Mr Barber gave a few white feathers, that had come loose from the adult swan, to a child who had held one of the cygnets.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag17\/17072106.jpg\" alt=\"Swan Upping 2017\" \/><br \/>\nThe two cygnets were claimed for the Queen by Mr Barber, although the Dyers&#8217; also tried to make a claim.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag17\/17072103.jpg\" alt=\"Swan Upping 2017\" \/><br \/>\nThe flotilla of six traditional skiffs then rowed off back across the Marina to the Thames &#8211; they were rejoined by the three motor boats that give support and provide the occasional tow.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag17\/17072102.jpg\" alt=\"Swan Upping 2017\" \/><br \/>\nThe end of the journey was at Abingdon Bridge where people had gathered. @TheAbingdonTaxi was there on the bridge &#8211; reporting directly on Twitter. He had already seen pictures, on Twitter, from @wbGabbleRatchet who was at the Marina.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag17\/17072101.jpg\" alt=\"Swan Upping 2017\" \/><br \/>\nAt Abingdon Bridge the skiffs came together and the company stood up to toast the Queen. <\/p>\n<p>A minute or so later they disembarked, and David Barber was talking on his mobile phone. Then he gave another interview to  a lady from the press. A lot of his job is education and public relations to help raise awareness and protect swans. I think he said to her 134 cygnets this year. <\/p>\n<p>Finally, a pleasure cruiser came under the bridge &#8211; &#8216;Land of Hope and Glory&#8217; blaring out. One of the passengers made as if they were conducting the assembled throng on the bridge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Friday 21st July 2017 the annual Swan Upping arrived at Abingdon, completing a five day journey up the Thames. 2017 was a relatively good year with more swans counted than the previous three years. At Abingdon Marina two cygnets and a father swan were caught near the slipway. Their mother was nowhere to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138,173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-river-thames","category-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}