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Swans are emblems of royalty and have their own traditions, almost as old as Windsor castle itself. Swans were once a delicacy, centrepiece of royal banquets, and were closely guarded by the crown. They no longer grace the royal dinner table, but they are still as valued. Each July the Queen's swan 'uppers' set off upriver from Sunbury to lay claim to the new crop of cygnets. They share the prize with the historic companies of the Vintners and the Dyers. Swan upping dates back more than 700 years. Today, of course, swan upping is a tourist attraction like the Changing of the Guard. But it is a serious business too. An adult swan can easily break a man's arm if it doesn't feel it's getting VIP treatment. In the 1980s the number of swans on the Thames hit an all-time low when many birds were poisoned by anglers' lead weights. The population crashed to fewer than 500, but since lead weights were banned it's gone back up to around 2,000. Once each bird has been tagged and assigned an owner, it's handed over to scientists for a thorough check-up. Twenty years ago this teamwork probably saved the swan's neck, when it revealed the scale of the poisoning.