Last spring, street artists Louis Masai and Jim Vision launched a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers faced by Britain's bee population -- such as dwindling habitat. They painted several murals in East London pointing out that bees are essential to our own food chain.
I only recently became aware of these murals through Sarah's blog, so I traveled out to Bethnal Green on Sunday morning to check two of them out myself. They're still going strong, more than six months later.
There are (or were) apparently a couple more murals in Shoreditch and Hackney. Photos of those can bee seen here. I didn't try to see them all, so I can't say for sure which ones are still around.
On a possibly related note is Masai's nearby mural of an orange spotted emerald, a type of dragonfly now extinct in the UK. (Fortunately they still exist elsewhere in Europe, though apparently their existence is precarious there too.)
Great post and link about bees Steve.
ReplyDeletePeople are generally oblivious to the important role bees play in the world and scarcely give them a second thought, unless one appears and they fear being stung.
I'm on the side of the bees and am planning to have native bushes as part of our garden renovations to replace the ones pulled out from the front garden by people who didn't like their shape....
I'll now get down off my soapbox.
Ms soup
I've seen several documentaries about bee colony collapse and became aware of the problem through the books and website of Carol Drinkwater, whom you can Google, if you like. Have you noticed any in your garden?
ReplyDeleteGreat murals! I think that guy is about to get bee-ed!
ReplyDeleteThose murals are stunning.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have noticed a decrease in the bees in my yard. I feel a bit guilty that I don't keep bees. But Jeez- one more thing.
That quote "when we go we're taking you with us" is perfect for the message here. I do love seeing bees at work and I still see lots of them when I walk at the botanical garden.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful.....I LOVE these totally
ReplyDeleteGlad you have put who the artists are Steve. Now I can look into them and also not bee mystified when I walk past these again!
ReplyDeleteOh, I love these!
ReplyDeleteFabulous! I was really really sad last year when we figured out that we could save the honey bees that have been living inside our church's walls - we would have had to basically dismantle the wall to get at them safely. And yes, we explored the idea of a vacuum & were told it wouldn't work. Now personally, I didn't mind a little honey trickling down the inside walls, but the guys replacing our roof weren't so calm about the situation...
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