Blood of the Earth - Hawkwind

 LATER TO METAMORPHOSE INTO
'HAWKLORDS'
Or in this instance "blood on the snow"!
On the third and final day in South Korea we decided to stay a little 
nearer to home and after another

Buddhist Breakfast.

We drove to the edge of town then slushed through the snow to the river.

Viewing the surface from a decent height and at quite a distance,

we noticed a bird mid-stream seemingly standing on something

but not appearing to be in any kind od distress.

It was a

GOSHAWK

which was now trying to make it to shore

but could not believe our eyes when seeing

it was 'towing' an adult male

MALLARD

On its own for the next few minutes

but not long before the

OPPORTUNISTS

moved in,

but what a sight

to see such a thing

unfold right before our wyes!

It defended its prey zealously

with not much, if any, going to the others

as it could be qualified when flying the the other side of the river showing a bulging crop.

Budding Artist young Saeyeon had gathered all in her minds-eye

and later presented me with this drawing.

Additionally, she had noticed the 'Angel' broach pinned to my hat and 

presented to me by a well-wisher before leaving home,

 making a lovely sketch of that as well!

Parasite - Kiss

From their second studio album
Hotter Than Hell!
MOTHS??

Well, once again expectations were low but we did get some luck with c2
First's For The Year

BUFF-TIP

 on
Finger Tip
along with a rather early

SETACEOUS HEBREW CHARACTER

BLACK-HEADED GULL

was the last thing we expected as most, if not all, local birds are at the

Nest Sites in Poole Harbour

 Continuing at home the regular

 PIED WAGTAILs

have once again started nest building

 behind the solar panels on the farmhouse roof

 Across the 2 other ponds the only activity concerned the still growing families of

CANADA GEESE

the 6 Goslings seeming to have doubled in size while the

MALLARD

ducklings

are performing more like 

Little Grebes - Diving Now!

Other success stories involve

 GOLDCREST

male

 female

 which seem to be in every tree and bush, especially along the

male

 Sewerage Works Fence Line

female

where once again the

 LONG-TAILED TITs

have taken up residence.

Despite the dearth of Moths other Insects have now started to appear,

especially on the Heath where both

BLACK-HEADED CARDINAL BEETLE

 was found along with

 BURYING BEETLE

underside, as is usual, covered in parasitic mites.

A Korea (sic) in Birding

Having used the Heading for Thursday's Post as
Birding in Korea
it was felt an anagram of that would fit perfectly as a header for Part II
At noon alone with Lee (a Christian) we headed off to a

Buddhist Temple
to meet the ladies (all of that faith)

his wife Jongsoo Choi (left), 6 years old daughter Saeyeon

and her auntie who's name escapes me.

The aim of the temple is not just to highlight the faith but also provide 
food for rich or poor alike and after meeting the

ABBOT
(yes, rather suprised me at the time to be the same as Christianity)

 a fine and flavoursome

 Korean Meal

 Posing on the Temple steps with Saeyeon

and even allowed to strike the
Dinner Bell
(when the Dinner Lady got out of the way)
They all seemed to be champing at the bit to get back into the Wilds,
so that is where we headed finding
c3 species of Stork within the first hour, but there were also,

DANGERS
remnants of the Korean War where the
North, supported by China and Russia were fighting the South along with the United Nations
(in fact in many cases family fighting family.)

 HOODED CRANE

the scarcer of the 3 species,

 WHITE-NAPPED CRANE

holding the middle ground along with the

most numerous
RED-CROWNED CRANE 

and a bit of a mix.

 At the frozen reseroir

 there were many dozens of

 CINEREOUS VULTURE

a species we had become familiar with during our 2001
jeep trek across the Mongolian Mountain Steppe
with just the odd but all immature

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE
just below the clump on the left.

A fitting end to the day was the finding of one of the 'rarest' birds on
EARTH

the "seriously endngered"

ORIENTAL WHITE STORK
At some time, when the going once again gets tough, there will be a 3rd part to this series,
and one of the most facinating birding events seen across 4 decades 
of embracing the hobby!