Urban Bee exhibition

At the weekend we visited Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens. You can see the birds we saw here and in the nearby Inverleith Park here.

We also went round the very interesting and informative exhibition about Urban Bees.

This exhibition looks at some of the different species of bees found in urban areas of Europe, explores some of the difficulties facing bees in general (such as insecticides and pesticides), looks at the consequences of declining numbers of bees (including the effect on food production) and looks at how we can help our local bees (including planting necxtar rich native plants in our gardens and building homes for bees).

The exhibition also looks at insects, such as hoverflies, that mimic bees and also looks at insect pollination of plants in general.

I was slightly disappointed that,despite a sign inviting visitors to don 'bee bibs' and pretend to be a bee, that option didn't seem to be available. Or maybe that only applies to the special children's tours of the exhibition.

I really liked this sign at the foot of the model bee:

I wonder if the organisers had had problems earlier with people trying to dismantle the bee? 

Urban Bees is part of the European Union Life Urban Bees Project. It will be on display at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens until Sunday 7 June.