Last week there was Swan-upping on the Thames. Nearly 750 years ago that traveling Plantagenet, Richard Coeur de Lion, on one of his infrequent visits to England, imported the white swan and decreed ...

Every third week of July, a group of Swan Uppers embark on a 79-mile journey down the River Thames in century-old rowing boats. Their job – to check the health of every swan in the river – is a ...