At long last - some Bewick's

 Sunday 2nd January 2022

Burpham, near Arundel, Sussex

One species that really gave me the runaround last year was the Bewick Swan,  Despite 2 ill-fated visits to Welney WWT and a last minute search here at Burpham in Sussex I "dipped" spectacularly.  This year it was top of my list of must see birds.

In the end it was easy, 6 birds were on show in the valley below me as I viewed from the cricket ground adjacent to the pub.  They were together in the distance with 2 Mute Swans about 25 metres away.  In the telescope you could clearly pick out the distinguishing yellow beak with the correct proportions of yellow and black and without the wedge shape of the Whooper Swans.  

At the end of 2021 there were only 3 Bewick's here and on 31/12/2021 when I visited, unbeknown to me,  they had moved upstream to Amberley and I missed them.  Another 6 (or 9?) arrived on New Years's Day and presumably these are those birds.  

Phew!

The Burgh

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon on The Burgh before the heavy rain arrived (or was it getting close to KO time for the Albion's game at Everton?) and I called it a day. 3+ Buzzrds, 5+Red Kites and a Raven were the stand out species here.

Here's my list on new species for the day:-

Bewick Swan

Buzzard

Chaffinch

Common Gull

Kestrel

Long-tailed Tit

Mute Swan

Raven

Red Kite

Stock Dove

Year total =  39

A really nice visit, brought to a premature close by the weather again!