The daily dose of outstanding green initiatives comes from Leicester this time, where the city council decided to transform all of its bus station roof, into green pollinator gardens for bees.

With the world’s bee population being constantly endangered, cities are trying to find alternative solutions to save the bees, without disrupting their natural habitat.
Now the city of Leicester, UK has a plan to become a green, carbon neutral and biodiverse city within the next 10 years, and the first initiative from this plan in called „Bee Bus Stops”. By adding a living green roof to the city’s bus shelters, the city wants to provide a safeheaven for bees as they will also bee accompanied by solar-powered pollinator gardens.
The pollinator gardens will be comprised of several types of flowers, from wildflowers to Sedum plants to create a favorable environment for the bees. This is such a cretaive initiative which will hopefully be soon replicated by other cities around the country. Leicester has a total of 479 bus shelters around town, and the city council hopes to transform all of them by the end of 2022.

Nature photography never ceases to amaze, as it seems that photographers specialized in this form of art are always at the right moment in the right spot.
Joe Neely managed to capture two sleeping bees inside of a flower and capture a stunning picture that didn’t pass unnoticed. The two bees are seen snuggling in the middle of an intensely orange flower and thanks to the macro effect all the tiny details of the bees are visible.
The picture happened by accident, as Neely went for a walk with his wife and in their search for Mexican poppies, they stumbled upon the tiny insects and knew they witnessed something special. That’s when they decided to capture this moment on camera and stayed there to watch them for a few moments more.
After taking a closer look, the couple noticed that almost all the flowers from the plant had bees sleeping inside them, as they were preparing to take a collective nap and enjoy the afternoon. The contrast created by the insect’s blue eyes and the vivid color of the flower, makes this picture stand out and truly unique among nature photographs.

Nature photographer Joe Neely happened upon the adorable sight of bees sleeping in globe mallow flowers.

Joe Neely: Website | Instagram 

Tomáš Libertíny is a Slovakian artist who chose a very interesting medium and contributor in helping him with his latest pieces.
His amazing wax sculptures have been made with the help of 60,000 bees responsible for forming the outer layers of his „Nefertiti Bust” and „Brutus”.
The sculptures are covered with honeycomb and Libertíny wanted to break traditional sculpture trends with a more progressive take on the issue.
His work name „Eternity” was inspired by a 3D model created after the original portrait of Nefertiti and by building a shield of honeycomb around it, the artists celebrated the majesty of Mother Nature. Libertíny is doing an artist residency in Rotterdam at the moment and works closely with beekeepers. By providing a frame for each beekeeper that the bees can colonize over months, he makes works of art that take a long period to be ready.
For instance, it took two years for „Eternity” to receive its final form but the final result was worth the long wait. „Eternity” is exposed at the artist’s solo show in Amsterdam at Rademakers Gallery until the 30th of January.

“Eternity” (2019-2020), natural beeswax, wood, glass, Cor-ten steel, 230 x 100 x 100 centimeters

“Eternity” (2019-2020), natural beeswax, wood, glass, Cor-ten steel, 230 x 100 x 100 centimeters
“Brutus” (2020), natural beeswax, wood, plastic, 160 x 70 x 60 centimeters

“The Honeycomb Amphora” (2020), natural beeswax, museum glass, wood, re-used beehives 47 x 42 x 147 centimeters “The Honeycomb Amphora” (2020), natural beeswax, museum glass, wood, re-used beehives 47 x 42 x 147 centimeters

The underwater world is so diverse and there are so many fascinating creatures living in deep waters, that we still don’t know much about. Deep-see photographs and videos are always captivating and you never know what you’ll stumble upon.
These very rare images were taken by a Finnish photographer, named Kristian Laine and have caught the attention even of marine biologists. Laine managed to take a picture of the world’s only known pink manta ray and since he is such a rare and mysterious sighting, he received the name Inspector Clueso.
This pink manta lives close to Lady Elliot Island, in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and he was first observed in 2015 by a diver. Marine biologists estimate that Inspector Clueso weighs about 2 tonnes and has a wingspan of 7 meters. Laine explained that his photography is among the rarest images ever of Inspector Clueso as there have been only about 10 sightings of the manta ray since that first one in 2015.
The amazing fact is that the photographer managed to get as close as one meter to the ray and the whole experience lasted around 30 minutes. The pictures speak for themselves and the majesty of this unique creature is undeniable.

The importance of bees in our eco-system in undeniable and the bee population needs to be protected, as a substantial decline in numbers would be devastating for our planet. But did you know that bees are also tiny artists?

This particular heart-shaped honeycomb was constructed by bees at Bodiam Castle in Robertsbridge, United Kingdom.

Have you ever seen honeycomb as beautiful as this?

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Bees are essential for the balance of our planet and the decline in the bee population in recent years, raised some alarming signs for several countries.
France seems to be among the first ones that decided to ban some specific pesticides, that contain neonicotinoids are killing bees. These types of synthetic pesticides have been first introduced in the 1990s and are known to be harmful to both humans and animals.
Their main compound is a toxic chemical that attacks the insect’s nervous system and was mainly used on trees and crops. In recent years, there have been more and more cases of mass deaths in bee colonies and the phenomena was named “Colony Collapse Disorder”.

Researches proved that this was a consequence of the use of neonicotinoids, which also affected the environment by polluting the water too and poisoning aquatic life too. The placed a ban on three main insecticides, namely clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam but France took it a step further, also adding thiacloprid and acetamiprid to the list.
Since December 19, 2018, it is forbidden to use them on outdoor crops fields and in greenhouses. However, some French farmers and the FNSEA (the biggest farming union in France) argue that there is not enough evidence to support this ban and that in many sectors, there is no real and efficient alternative to these pesticides.
One of the main concerns is that this type of ban will only contribute to the rise of unfair competition among European and non-European producers.
Numbers also show that the global bee population is in a constant decline, so chances are that more serious bans are to be followed worldwide

Scientific studies show that neonicotinoids cut bees’ sperm count and scramble their memory and homing skills, as well as being addictive

“There are pesticides all over the place,” Fabien Van Hoecke, a beekeeper in Saint-Aloué in Brittany, who lost 86 per cent of his bees over the winter. While the ban was “a good thing, it won’t save us,” he told AFP, predicting that as soon as they are withdrawn, they will be “replaced by others”.

Source: “France becomes first country in Europe to ban all five pesticides killing bees.” The Telegraph. Henry Samuel.

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The decreasing number of bees in the world is a problem that scientists and especially biologists are trying to solve. Even if we think of bees as pests, it seems like their increasing scarcity affects the surrounding natural world, and a possible extinction of bees will trigger a chain reaction that could lead to the extinction of all human kind. But don’t panic! There is a little everybody could do to handle this issue. Planting! Yes, planting particular types of plants will help the bees to multiply more often and easily. So, don’t just stand around while people disappear from the face of the Earth after the bees become extinct. Plant these, according to your possibilities:

• herbs: lavender, catmint, sage, cilantro, thyme, fennel, or borage;
• perenntals: crocus, buttercup, aster, hollyhocks, anemone, snowdrops, or geranium;
• annuals: calendula, sweet asylum, poppy, sunflower, zinnia, cleome, or heliotrope;

In this struggle, every plant counts. Caring after some plants will result in the safe return to what scientists call regular numbers of bees that will restore balance to the natural life and cause benefits to the environment as well. Choose a plant you’d like to see in your balcony or yard and save the planet!