Editing Swan upping (section)

==Description==
[[File:Swan Upping.jpg|right|thumb|The skiffs surround the swans so that they can be more easily caught.]]
Swan upping is the traditional means by which the swans on the Thames are apportioned among the three proprietors. Its main practical purposes today are to conduct a [[census]] of swans and check their health. It occurs annually in the third week of July. Over five days, the Crown's, the Vintners' and the Dyers' respective 'swan uppers' row up the river in [[Thames skiff|skiffs]] (in recent centuries from [[Sunbury-on-Thames|Sunbury]] to [[Abingdon on Thames|Abingdon]]).<ref name=official>{{cite web |url=https://www.royal.uk/swans |title=Swan Upping |website=The Royal Family |access-date=27 July 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Wheals | first = Brian Brenchley  | title = Theirs Were But Human Hearts: A Local History of Three Thameside Parishes | publisher = H.S. Publishing | year = 1984 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SVsn5Cf2d4YC&dq=Swans+John+Turk&pg=PA65 | isbn = 0-9509053-0-5 | page = 65}}</ref><ref>{{Citation
 | author = The Queen's Swan Marker
 | title = Royal Swan Upping
 | publisher = Trinityweb Ltd
 | year = 2018
 | url = http://www.royalswan.co.uk/
 }}</ref> 

The Crown's swans are recorded by the [[Marker of the Swans]], who is rowed in a skiff by oarsmen from the [[Company of Watermen and Lightermen]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://heartheboatsing.com/2011/07/22/a-day-with-the-uppers/ | title=A Day with the Uppers | website=Hear the Boat Sing | date=22 July 2011 }}</ref> The Crown's swan uppers, who wear distinctive red uniforms, catch the swans, weigh and measure the [[Swan#Etymology and terminology|cygnet]]s, and check them for injuries.<ref name=official/><ref name=BBC>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-66317374 |title=Swan upping: Royal cygnet numbers drop by 40% in a year |publisher=BBC News |date=27 July 2023 }}</ref><ref name=BBC-Queen>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2009/07/20/swan_feature.shtml |title=Queen counts her swans |publisher=BBC |date=21 July 2009 |orig-date=20 July 2009 }}</ref>

Based on their parentage, cygnets are determined to belong to the Crown, the Dyers or the Vintners.<ref name=official/> Swans belonging to the Crown are left unmarked, except for a lightweight ring linked to the database of the [[British Trust for Ornithology]].{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Those belonging to the Dyers and Vintners receive a similar ring on the other leg.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} The rings have replaced nicks on the swans' [[beak|bill]]s, which used to be made with a metal implement, one nick for the Dyers and one on each side for the Vintners.<ref name=BBC-Queen/> The former practice is reflected in ''[[Swan with Two Necks, London|The Swan with Two Necks]]'', the name of a former pub in the City connected with the Vintners, which was a corruption of "The Swan with Two Nicks".{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}