Swans at Windsor
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Animal
photos and videos Swans usually mate for life. The number of eggs in
each clutch is between 3–8. Young swans are known as cygnets, from the
Latin word for swan, cygnus. An adult male is a "cob", an adult
female is a "pen". The town of Windsor, England, is on the River Thames,
21 miles west of London, and is dominated by the magnificent Windsor
Castle, the world's largest and oldest occupied castle. The castle was
built by William the Conqueror almost a thousand years ago and has been
lived in by English monarchs ever since. It has been substantially altered
and added to over the centuries. It is the favored place for Queen
Elizabeth to live The River Thames at Windsor is inhabited by flocks of swans.
The role of swan-upping was to round up unmarked
cygnets and once the parentage of the cygnets had been established to the
swan masters satisfaction, the birds could be marked appropriately and
returned to the wild. The ceremony exists these days in a largely symbolic
form, although as an exercise it is useful in monitoring the condition and
number of swans on the Thames. Royal swans are no longer marked, but an unmarked
mute swan on the Thames is regarded as belonging to the Queen. The Queen
still maintains an officially appointed Swan Keeper, and the ceremony
still takes place on the Monday of the third week in July. The Queen has a prerogative over all swans in England
and Wales. The Swan Keeper also despatches swans all over the world, sent
as gifts in the Queens name.
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