The historic annual swan census - Swan Upping - yielded positive results this year following a "disappointing" drop in cygnet numbers in 2016. 

The royal tradition sees the ‘Swan Uppers’ in red blazers take on a 79 mile journey from Sunbury to Abingdon across five days, passing through 26 locks.

The Queen's Royal officials take to the waters in their skiffs to find families of swans before taking them out of the water to weigh them, measure them and check for any injuries before releasing them back into the Thames.

Despite reaping disappointing results last year, with swan numbers down due to illness, vandalism and dog attacks, this year has been much more positive according to Royal Swan Marker, David Barber.

Speaking in Marlow on Wednesday morning, he said: “Last year we caught 72 young cygnets between Sunbury and Abingdon, the year before that it was 83, the year before that it was 120. For all my years that I have been doing this, which is about 24 years, we always had over 100 cygnets, but it’s been very positive on the first day. Last year we had 18 cygnets on the first day and this year on the Monday we had 36. It has increased.

“Yesterday was another big bonus – the numbers have gone up from previous years so we are very pleased about that. We have had lots of issues this year with dog attacks – many nests have been destroyed when people walking their dogs don’t keep them under control.

“We’re not saying people shouldn’t walk their dogs because everyone likes to take their dog for a walk along the river, but where there is a nest, you have to keep the dog under control.”

Marlow mayor, Cllr Jocelyn Towns, joined the procession down the Thames and described the experience as “magical”.

She said: “Swan Upping is a lovely combination of quintessential English tradition, coupled with a valuable piece of swan preservation work. It was an honour to be invited by David Barber, the Queen’s Swan Marker, to join the Swan Uppers.”

On Wednesday morning, pupils from Danesfield, St Peter’s Catholic and Bisham Schools gathered at the Compleat Angler Hotel on the river banks to hear Mr Barber speak about his work.

The excited youngsters erupted with delight as a cygnet was brought out for them to stroke.

Each school was presented with a certificate after listening to the Swan Uppers talk about dangers swans face.

Mr Barber said: “Perhaps in years to come they will look after their wildlife, they get all very excited. It’s nice to speak to the children about the wildlife and the river itself. There is a lot to tell people about what we do.

“Injuries are a serious problem for us. We lose nearly 40 per cent of young cygnets through fishing tackle injuries. Education isn’t all what you see here with youngsters, we go to fishing clubs to talk to fishermen about it, and I would say most fishermen are very conscious about looking after wildlife.”