Jj is for Jottings 34. Even the Queen’s Swan Marker Thinks Children Spend Too Much Time on Computers.

Every July, David Barber, who is the Queen’s Swan Marker, leads a team of Swan Uppers in a flotilla of skiffs up the River Thames from Sunbury to Abingdon in a colourful ceremonial pageant. Their task is to count and mark the bird population in this section of river. This tradition dates back to the 12th century, when the monarch claimed ownership of all the mute swans in England, since then swans were an important food source. The monarch still has the right to claim any unmarked swan swimming in open waters in the United Kingdom. The Swan Uppers isolate each swan family, take them out of the water with their bare hands, tie their wings and legs with soft swan ties and take them ashore, where they are weighed, measured, checked for injuries (and treated) and rings put on the legs of birds which haven’t previously been marked. The exercise is more about conservation these days, since I can’t imagine the Queen or any of her representatives out searching for any unmarked swans to have for lunch! I’m told that they taste fishy and unpleasant anyway.
Many of the swans’ injuries are from fishing tackle; pollution – especially oil discharge from boat engines; natural predators such as foxes, red kites and other smaller hawks, and herons, which pick up cygnets, fly off and drop them from a great height; and vandalism, which is one of the biggest problems and which is why an important part of David’s job is to educate school children. Groups of primary school children come down to different locations on the riverbank to take part in weighing and measuring the cygnets and to hear about the importance of protecting the swans, the history and stories of river life, the boats they use, the wildlife, the environment and the role they can play in protecting it. The hope is that this close involvement with the swan families will curb the mindless vandalism which is often carried out by children (stealing and breaking swans’ eggs), and that they will feel that they are guardians of wildlife ever afterwards.
David has noticed that a lot of children have never been to the river despite the fact that they live locally. He said, “I honestly feel too much time these days is spent by youngsters on computers and not enough time is spent discovering their natural environment.” Hear, hear.