One is just swanning about
THE Queen became the first monarch in centuries to take part in the ancient ritual of counting the royal swans yesterday.
She travelled up the Thames in a 50ft steam launch for the annual Swan Upping ceremony. It used to provide food for royal feasts, with some cygnets being taken away to be fattened up, but it is now all about conservation.
Boatmen called Swan Uppers, dressed in scarlet jackets, spend five days in July weighing the swans and checking them for signs of disease or injury.