Florence (Day 7) Boboli Gardens and some birds!!

Well today, we had intended going further afield, but I woke with a splitting headache.  Given we had a bit of a journey to Sienna, Pete suggested we had a local day instead and I was more than happy to agree. So we decided to have a wander and then go to some the Boboli Gardens

Ponders gazed along the river .. looking for cousins I think ;)

Over the Ponte Vecchio... both sides of the parthway were lined with pot Chrysanths...

View from the bridge.

The Pitti Palace.  Although we had to buy an inclusive Palace ticket to get to the gardens, we wanted to be outside...

so tickets bought.. off we went.

Starlings and ..

Sparrows were nesting in the walls..

One of about 8 Mallard Ducklings :)

It's a climb up but well worth it for the wonderful views from the top....

The wall on the left in the above picture was covered with a rose with masses of buds.... just beginning to come into bloom with  lovely delicate yellow.... will look beautiful when in full flower

We saw many Serins throughout the holiday.. record shot only of one of them.

and also.... yep... Ring-Necked Parakeets!!.. we knew they were in Florence having seen the before.

We came back into town for some lunch....

Last year this was men climbing up the wall.... this year Spoons!!

We were then off to discover some new gardens but got distracted... Pete espied a Kingfisher...unfortunately, being vertically challenged, I couldn't see over the wall at that point although I did see one later.

We were looking along the River as we went over the bridge and thought we saw little Egrets.. we did... then realised one of them was much bigger... and it was a Great White Egret.  So we headed down the river to get a closer look.

Little Egret & Grey Heron (juvenile I think..)

a family of Mallards

By now having spent quite some time bird watching we decided that it was a bit too late for the next lot of gardens and strolled back to the hotel.

Messrs Ponders & Quacks felt they needed a glass... or two!! :)

and back to the hotel... my headache having now fully gone!! Phew.... talk about bad timing!