At 6 am, the sun rose over the River Katsura…this scene right outside the gate of Hananoie

and directly opposite the front gate of Hananoie, a flash of colour on a river rock

a splendid Common KF started the morning off….

Heading to the bridge, the crowds of tourists had not arrived yet thankfully….I crossed the bridge and went right for a few hundred meters and then came back to the bridge and went on the island…

A map of the area…..the red dot marks the crossroads of the area with the bridge right next to it. Hananoie is just next to where it says Kyoto City parking…note also that the bridge traverses a small island in the river which almost blends into the far bank

Crossing the bridge, a tranquil scene to the right…

and on the left an equally peaceful scene

turning right at the end of the bridge, the Monkey Temple beckoned…

I walked along the river bank till the bend in the river a few hundred metres away

Looking back towards the rising sun

pretty in monochrome too

early morning on the river ….just a great time to be around

In the fading light, this shot from the evening before shows a black kite on the tree overhanging the path I was walking on…

turning back towards the bridge…

a green backed tit flitted

and found his mate

Just after getting back on the bridge and crossing a stream, on the right there is a path leading to the small island seen in the map…this Eurasian tree sparrow was having breakfast.

Heading east along the island you will come across this stone carving which states that China and Japan will never battle again…..a memorial to the million lives lost in the Sino Japan conflict a hundred years ago. A sober reminder that peace should not be taken for granted

A pair of great cormorants sunning themselves

From this eastern end of the island we could look right across the river to our inn, the Hananoie

At this end of the island another little bridge crosses over a stream back to the main bank where a forested area beckoned

a large grey heron waded in the stream

grey heron

a splendidly coloured oriental turtle dove greeted me

we were a little early for the fall colours but the leaves were changing…

incessant shrieks led me to this shrike

A juvenile bull headed shrike

shrike from another angle

a flock of brown eared bulbuls descended on this tree

Brown eared bulbul

and then I saw this raptor in the sky hovering ..

An osprey which hovered and swooped 

and in another tree, a flurry of tiny birds …the Japanese white eye

Japanese white eye

Heading back across the bridge, this little egret hopped around

Autumn in Kyoto….

heading back to our inn, the Hananoie

old bonsai like trees in the garden

spiders web

water feature

Autumn in Arashiyama….