Swan Upping 2013

[cinrit]

Royal Swan Upping will take place from 15-19 July 2013.

Swan Upping, the annual census of the swan population on the River Thames, was announced today by David Barber, The Queen's Swan Marker.

This year's Swan Upping will start on Monday 15 July departing from Sunbury, and ends at Abingdon, Oxfordshire on Friday 19 July.
Announcing the dates for Swan Upping, David Barber reported:

"The Thames' swans are nesting later than usual due to the prolonged cold spring we have experienced this year. The number of cygnets has declined over recent years, primarily due to the spring floods that washed away many nests, and of course there have been several outbreaks of duck virus enteritis which killed many breeding pairs of swans.

http://www.royal.gov.uk/LatestNewsandDiary/Pressreleases/2013/SwanUpping2013.aspx 

Cindy

[megaroozle]

Love Swan Upping such a beautiful sight.All those lovely white swans.

[Honesty]

Love Swan Upping such a beautiful sight.All those lovely white swans.

They just showed a video on the Candian TV.  I like the uniforms and the little cygnets were adorable.  Evidently swans were eaten in the earlier times, and the swan upping was to ensure there was enough for the table.  Thank goodness they are not eaten now.
Any animal lovers on the forum - how long is the life of swan ?   I have watched them constantly on the Norfolk broads, but they are very aggressive birds when they have young with  them.  Don't fish while their kids are about.

[cinrit]

I'm an animal lover, but I don't know the answer to your question, Honesty.  I used to live in a planned city on a lake with a few swans.  In fact, all the lakes in the city had swans.  One day after coming out of a restaurant on the main lake with a friend, one of the swans was sitting a few feet from the door.  I made a move to go to it with the intention of petting it, and my friend quickly pulled me back and told me that the swan, if it wanted, could break my arm with a kick of it's leg! :o  But they sure are beautiful to look at, if not touch. :D

Cindy

[Limabeany]

Love Swan Upping such a beautiful sight.All those lovely white swans.

They just showed a video on the Candian TV.  I like the uniforms and the little cygnets were adorable.  Evidently swans were eaten in the earlier times, and the swan upping was to ensure there was enough for the table.  Thank goodness they are not eaten now.
Any animal lovers on the forum - how long is the life of swan ?   I have watched them constantly on the Norfolk broads, but they are very aggressive birds when they have young with  them.  Don't fish while their kids are about.

Swan Falls In Love With Tractor - YouTube

The REAL Swan Lake: Trumpeter Swans by the Hundreds Taking Flight (HD) - YouTube

[Honesty]

I'm an animal lover, but I don't know the answer to your question, Honesty.  I used to live in a planned city on a lake with a few swans.  In fact, all the lakes in the city had swans.  One day after coming out of a restaurant on the main lake with a friend, one of the swans was sitting a few feet from the door.  I made a move to go to it with the intention of petting it, and my friend quickly pulled me back and told me that the swan, if it wanted, could break my arm with a kick of it's leg! :o  But they sure are beautiful to look at, if not touch. :D

Cindy

Your reply post prompted me to have a look.  Life span about 7 - 20 yrs I guess.
And all swans are owned by HM. This URL was interesting.
Frequently Asked Questions about Swans

My husband took our boys fishing on a regular basis on the Norfolk Broads.  And over many years he only once saw a swan " deck" a coypu, that is a rat like creature, eats eggs etc, and attacks smaller animals.  This stupid chap got too close to the tiny cygnets and the lady gave him a massive swat with both wings.  Set him back on his heels I guess.  My two young sons came home with the words - " Mum, there was a big fight.  White Fire won!  ".  In that part of the broads you tended to only see one or two couples breeding.

This area is only 4 miles from where I was married and lived prior to emigrating to Canada. Not far from where Ann Boleyn was born Cindy. At Blickling Hall.
Swans, sails and sunsets. Norfolk Broads, September 2012. - YouTube
Double post auto-merged: July 17, 2013, 09:30:54 PM

Thanks Limebeany, loved the massive flocks.

[cinrit]

^^ Thanks for the facts site, Honesty.  I see someone even asked if it's true a swan can break your arm! :P  (My friend actually told me that they wouldn't do it unless they were angry, but no point in taking chances on the swan's mood.)  I hope your husband wasn't really hurt by the swan.  Was he trying to protect the copyu, or just trying to get a look?

Oh, wow ... you lived near Blicking Hall? :vday2:  Lucky you!  Did you visit it often?  You've probably noticed that Anne Boleyn is my favorite Royal.

Cindy

[Honesty]

Yes Cindy.  My godfather, now passed on, was a Member of the National trust. I joined for just one year when he took me for [ a free] visit.  We went into areas normally closed to the public, used for administration of the National Trust.  The library however, is remarkable.  Huge tombs bound in leather, and it is a gallery library, massively long, with mullioned windows.

They give every visitor a pair of paper slippers [ if you are wearing heels ] to protect the floors from wear.  I have visited the gardens many times, they did not cost when I was young.  The Hall it'self was too pricey for my pockets then.  On display is a beautiful piece of embroidery done by Anne herself, and is glass bound [don't know if that is a correct description, but it is contained within glass.  Very fine work.  The indoor lavatory is hilarious.  Massive seat and the contents dropped into a large hole, which had a small stream or running water flowing through. The massive bed had that large canopy over the top.  It is beautifully kept, and many folks go through there each year.

We have to remember that this was lived in as such in the 1500's.  Marvellous architechure.  Although accessible now to Blickling Broads, [they are the waterways that were drained by the dutch folks in the 1600's,] of course Anne would not have had access to them.  However, there was a large lake, called Blickling lake, which she would have enjoyed, and that is now connected by the drained and maintained waterways.  Norfolk has lots of windmills as it is so flat, and these mills driven by the wind were also used as drainage mills to keep the land dry between the channels.

[Macrobug]

On my list of places to go when I finally get over to England. :thumbsup:   Thanks for the discription.  Where are you in Canada?

[Honesty]

Sorry, I did not put that very well Cindy.  It was the coypu who ran out to get the tiny little cygnets, I guess he did not see the mother, my husband and the kids just got the chance to see the swan, the children had named White fire, just swat the rat.  Saw him off, and then sailed regally on.  Every swan was known as "white fire" to my boys but quite frankly there was not distinct markings so it could have been any of them.   And I wrote that HM owns all the swans - this is inaccurate.  She owns all the mute swans in England and Wales.  I don't know about Scotland or N. Ireland. They of course are different to the trumpeter swans in that flock provided by Limeabeany.  These stay in the same habitat all year round.
Double post auto-merged: July 18, 2013, 02:35:02 AM

On my list of places to go when I finally get over to England. :thumbsup:   Thanks for the discription.  Where are you in Canada?

On beautiful Vancouver Island, Macrobug.  But I was in the North for a few years.  Glad you liked the Norfolk Broads.  It really is lovely.  Lots of pubs on the river banks, and the area is quite large.   Norfolk has lots of stately homes, the most famous of course is Sandringham, but others of the same period to Blickling can be seen easily.  I think  it was where all the poshies had their country homes to get out of London. :D
Double post auto-merged: July 18, 2013, 02:43:37 AM

On my list of places to go when I finally get over to England. :thumbsup:   Thanks for the description.  Where are you in Canada?

I am on beautiful Vancouver Island Macrobug, but I was in the north for several years prior to that.
Glad that you liked Norfolk.  Lovely area.  Full of stately homes, many dating from the early 15 - 1600's.  I guess the monied folks came to Norfolk to get away from the stuffiness of London. Good game county too.  Lots of pubs on the river banks of the broads, good grub as they say.  And the norfolk coastline is lovely.  Just a small county.  All my lot to my knowledge so far, were fishermen, earliest 1735, and his folks who I cannot find, came from close to Blickling.  Probably they were farm labourers. 
Double post auto-merged: July 18, 2013, 02:47:01 AM

Sorry about the double post folks.  Something went wrong and the whole computer just stopped running.  I thought it had not taken the original reply. : :cry:

[Macrobug]

Northern BC or The North?  I spent time on Baffin.  My aunt lives in Nanaimo.

[cinrit]

Thanks for the explanation of White Fire, Honesty.  I had a whole different image in my mind.

And special thanks for your description of Blickling Hall.  The lavatory is especially interesting ... even back then, they had the right idea, with the running water flowing through.  I'd love to see the embroidery piece that was worked by Anne.  I remember years ago when the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., had an Elizabeth I display.  Her bible was part of the display, and I couldn't take my eyes off it for several minutes, just imaging how she had held it hundreds of times.

Cindy

[Macrobug]

When I was working in the arctic I visited an old whaling station.  There was an outhouse there that was for our use.  It was built on the shoreline rocks and the "flushing" action was the daily tide.  Not particularily environmentally sound.....
But better than the outhouse I used in the desert just outside Riyahd.  The facilities was a cave, the light was a flashlight and the toilet was a garbage bag.   :wacko:

No wonder the royal court moved so often.  It wouldn't take long before a castle or manor was inhospitable with the sheer amount of people.

[Honesty]

No wonder the royal court moved so often.  It wouldn't take long before a castle or manor was inhospitable with the sheer amount of people.

Absolutely, I remarked to my godfather that the stench must have been terrific.  His comment, look at the size of this huge room, the bathroom part is enclosed and privacy was that heavy velvet curtain.  So perhaps that is why they also grow so much lavender in Norfolk.  I know that was used to put down for walking on .  Not in Blickling Hall perhaps, but in the kitchens etc.

[Macrobug]

My delicate nose wouldn't have survived.

[Honesty]

I don't think  it was an " all share", type of lavatory.  I bet it was just for the master and mistress of the Hall, and possibly only at nighttime.  Day times one nipped to the outhouse, and other guesses would have what I had as a child, a chamber pot under the bed which was emptied every morning.  Liquid only.  If you needed otherwise it was a candle protected with your hands against the wind, head down, and slowly slowly, down the garden path.

[cinrit]

Those women in their Tudor (and later, Elizabethan) skirts!!  Must've taken them forever..... :eyes:

Cindy

[Honesty]

Those women in their Tudor (and later, Elizabethan) skirts!!  Must've taken them forever..... :eyes:

Cindy

Never thought of that, but loved those costumes. 

[cinrit]

I hadn't thought of it, either, until I joined an Anne Boleyn discussion group on Yahoo several years ago and someone brought it up.  I think it no longer exists.  We ran out of things to talk about, since nothing new ever happened.

Cindy