At first the Botanical Gardens seemed to be a bust. There was noisy construction at the start and not much was blooming. But then we kept on moving and it opened up to a large wooded area. There was a swamp with reeds and water lilies, a planted flower garden on a little path and some dense woods in the very back. Just for kicks I started using the Merlin app to listen for birds and the usual suspects came up, the blackbird, pigeon, hooded crow and great tit. As we were ready to go I heard a high pitched call and it was a Common Firecrest. It may be common but I had never seen it. I used the app to return its call and that really worked. It worked so well that the bird buzzed my head. I was able to get a half decent picture and so I add a new bird to my list. We looked at the busses for our ride home but we would have to walk 10 minutes the wrong direction to ride the bus for 20 minutes. Or we could just walk home in 25 minutes. We chose to walk.
The fence was very ornate ass we approached
The entrance gates
At first it seemed meager
A few large trees
The administrative building
flowering trees
Maybe a type of hydrangea
More flowering bushes
A series of planted beds that was a display for the kids
Giant green flies
More of the planted beds
A water feature
Lily
The construction was centered on the green house and they were putting up scaffolding
Another water lily
A tree with a portal
A portal to another dimension
A random head emerging from the ground
Loved this tree
Speak only the truth while on the "grass"
A wayward column
We found the wooded area
Many labels on this artificial hill
A swamp
Irises
A path into the unknown
Looking back at the benches
A brick archway
The elusive firecrest
A better picture
Some very large trees
More flowers
A palm tree
Walking back we decided we should walk on the other side of the street
We passed a violon maker
I went inside to peek about
He did not have a family history of violin making
He just decided to start making them.
Another old instrument
A bit dusty
Fantastic doorway
A prosciutto place
This dog looked very skinny
He was made out of sand!
A gin bottle we saw
Golden label
