What is Britain's most symbolic species

[davecatt]

Red Kite; once one of the commonest raptors in the country,went into serious decline due to persecution,and then made a dramatic come back due to intervention from people who cared.

How symbolic is that?

[Cowgirl]

Originally Posted by Earthwatcher

The bumblebee romped it (actually not sure about the margin) in last night's debate.

The Guardian ran a precis of the arguments. I thought the claim that without the oak, Britain would have had no empire, an interesting one. Some might think that would have been a good thing.

Oh didn't realise it was a choice out of those. yes totally forgot about bumble bee, good choice & debate I thought.

[Earthwatcher]

Re the five Earthwatch choices: that was a list for the purpose of a specific event but there is no need for the debate to be narrowed down on this thread. I'd like to see a bit more discussion on the Earthworm personally. We'd be stuffed without them.

Also the rose, I believe is an English symbol rather than a British one. It's not really any more representative of Britain than the thistle or the daffodil. From the posts on here so far I'd guess that the Robin was winning.

But I do like the bumble bee idea. Bees seem to be everyone's friend. They pollinate flowers, give us food and if they feel they have to use their sting, they give up their life.

[STYRBJORN]

Oh-oh-dear. To which species of bumble are we referring? There are, as I recall,17 species of beedlebums indigenous to the UK. Most of them are stingless; the others have barbless stings. Only some varieties of honey-bees have barbed stings.

I would have no problem accepting beedlebums as symbolic/emblematic/iconic British creatures but to treat them all as a single species is frankly rather silly.

Ric in pedantic mode.

[tcvarlh]

Find it ruddy funny the Humble-Bee 'romped it'. Not that it won, but most folk gallop miles a soon as something buzzes near them. I spend many hours in pub gardens in the summer and the gentle Bombus is often battered by men and women panicking.
h

[STYRBJORN]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

Find it ruddy funny the Humble-Bee 'romped it'. Not that it won, but most folk gallop miles a soon as something buzzes near them. I spend many hours in pub gardens in the summer and the gentle Bombus is often battered by men and women panicking.
h

I know. Why FFS? Wasps I can understand some people finding scarey. They don't bug me, so to speak, but they can be dodgy so fair enough. But why get frit of a fat furry friendly beedlebum who's just looking for a flower to, er, pollinate? But then I know people who get paranoid about hoverflies. There's nowt so queer as folk. Iggerance may be bliss for the iggerant but it makes life difficult for everyone else.

Ric

[Red Robin]

^^^^
Me too - I get very irritated when people want to kill or swipe a visiting bee or wasp or indeed any insect. I just wish that a great big fat mother of bee/wasp about six foot long would jet in over the horizon and wreak revenge!

I find that bees/wasps tend to sense how you are about them and will respect you if you respect them.

[tcvarlh]

Perhaps it is merely the symbol of a Bombus, fat, fuzzy, friendly, humming away, big daft smile on it's caricature face. Everybody likes Wile E Coyote, but the real Coyote is feared, labelled pest, shot at, poisoned and hated. Maybe the Humble Bee IS Britain's most symbolic species, just as long as it's on paper. Thinking on this, the WWF uses the Panda, a bad tempered, aggressive, smelly critter, but only in logo form and even that has been 'sweetened', made cuddlier. And altered three times to fit people's changing acceptance. A local brewery makes a Honey-ale with a sweet icckle Humble bee on the label. I like the brew, the label makes me nauseous. Another brewer uses a 'sugered' wasp which leaves me confused. (The label I hasten to add, the ale merely mellows me).
I don't think I want a child's representation of the Humble bee as Britain's most symbolic species. I would like to see it for what it is, an industrious, independent, hirsute, tolerant insect.
Tout d'abord poussé par ce qui fait en aviation, j'ai appliqué aux insectes les lois de la résistance de l'air, et je suis arrivé avec M. Sainte-Lague a cette conclusion que leur vol est impossible. (Antoine Magnan)
h

[STYRBJORN]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

Perhaps it is merely the symbol of a Bombus, fat, fuzzy, friendly, humming away, big daft smile on it's caricature face. Everybody likes Wile E Coyote, but the real Coyote is feared, labelled pest, shot at, poisoned and hated. Maybe the Humble Bee IS Britain's most symbolic species, just as long as it's on paper. Thinking on this, the WWF uses the Panda, a bad tempered, aggressive, smelly critter, but only in logo form and even that has been 'sweetened', made cuddlier. And altered three times to fit people's changing acceptance. A local brewery makes a Honey-ale with a sweet icckle Humble bee on the label. I like the brew, the label makes me nauseous. Another brewer uses a 'sugered' wasp which leaves me confused. (The label I hasten to add,

I don't think I want a child's representation of the Humble bee as Britain's most symbolic species. I would like to see it for what it is, an industrious, independent, hirsute, tolerant insect.
Tout d'abord poussé par ce qui fait en aviation, j'ai appliqué aux insectes les lois de la résistance de l'air, et je suis arrivé avec M. Sainte-Lague a cette conclusion que leur vol est impossible. (Antoine Magnan)
h

GREAT theme song for WAB there. Remember Donovan?
Mellow Yellow
I'm just wild about Britain
And Britain's wild about me
I'm just mad about Britain
And she's just mad about me
They call me Mellow Yellow
They call me Mellow Yellow
Quite rightly . . .
I'm just wild about Saffron . . .

And on.

Flashback to the 60s there. Ric

[Earthwatcher]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

I don't think I want a child's representation of the Humble bee as Britain's most symbolic species.

You're not David Cameron then.