" Swan Upping is the annual census of the swan population on the River Thames from Sunbury to Abingdon dating from the twelfth century. It has always been the duty of the Sovereign's Swan Marker to count the young cygnets each year and to ensure the swan population is maintained. Here the procession passes through Penton Hook Lock before stopping to check two cygnets with their mother close to Barrington Court in Staines. The swans are seen being given a health check, weighed and tagged. The party then continued upstream to The Swan Hotel in Staines for lunch, and would eventually reach Abingdon after five days. There is a bronze statue depicting the Swan Marker in Fairfield Avenue in Staines town centre. "
